Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. Middleport Pottery is a late 19th century pottery factory on the Trent and Mersey canal in Stoke-on-Trent. Now a visitor attraction, the charity-owned site still hosts a Burleigh Pottery factory, but also serves both as a heritage site with tours of the factory and a collection of art and craft studios.  I took the interesting 90-minute tour,  that featured both the history of the site, built as a state-of-the-art Victorian factory, and the current factory that uses a blend of traditional crafts with some modern equipment. The Kiln Yard, featuring a Bottle Oven. What's Here? Located next to the canal, for the efficient importing of coal and clay, and the smooth exporting of finished pottery, the Middleport Pottery was designed as a best-in-breed pottery in its day.  Now most of the original buildings remain, largely preserved and restored during the 2010s, and different parts of the site have been put to different purposes. This includes the return of pottery ...

In Brief. In February, the gardens at Rode Hall are opened for a Snowdrop Walk. This is exactly what it says on the tin. A path through the gardens leads to an artificial lake (Rode Pool), and various paths meander through a wooded area, with copious snowdrops covering the ground. Combined with a substantial cake from the cafe, this provides some simple pleasures to maintain morale while waiting for Spring. Rode Hall What's Here? Rode Hall is a Georgian country house on grounds that have been in the same family since the 17th century. The house is open to visitors on certain days from April to September, so access does not coincide with the snowdrops. On my visit in a weekday in February, the snowdrop walk was popular with retirees, sometimes with grandchildren in tow. Overall, this is a genteel destination, with visitors sauntering along the paths, and indeed a visit characterised by brisk walking would be over rather quickly.  Stew Pond Now, snowdrops can't be said to be spec...

In Brief. The Yorkshire Air Museum hosts an extensive collection of largely British military aircraft, mostly from the Second World War (WW2) and the Cold War. Located in a retired military aerodrome, the original buildings host exhibitions, many of which relate to the history of the site, which was used by Bomber Command in WW2, in particular by squadrons crewed by French aircrew. The site also hosts a memorial rose garden, in honour of the many crews that did not return; only around half the WW2 air crew survived their tours of duty. A Victor bomber / tanker. What's Here? The museum is located in what was once RAF Elvington, a WW2 air base close to York. Many of the original buildings survive, and now host exhibitions that mostly reflect the wartime role of the site.  Thus there is a control tower, a recreated French Officer's Mess, and exhibitions on Bomber Command and on Air Gunners (my father was one of them in WW2). These exhibits include equipment, uniforms, posters and...

In Brief. The town of Ellesmere Port came into being around a port that linked the canal network with the River Mersey, and thereby to Liverpool and the wider world. The resulting canal port featured basins, locks, warehouses and supporting facilities, now preserved as the National Waterways Museum .  The substantial site includes a wide variety of canal boats, either in the water or in an Exhibition Hall, and a collection of buildings that supported the port, including a Blacksmiths Forge and a display of engines in the Power Hall. Locks connecting the lower and upper basins. What's Here? On arrival, visitors are given a map with a suggested route around the site. This involves visiting various of the support services, such as the still-active blacksmiths forge, before traversing the various waterways that host different canal boats. Some of these are quite unusual; for example, there is a concrete barge built during the 2nd world war when steel was scarce but there was plenty con...

In Brief. Having almost frozen to death at the corresponding activity at  Dunham Massey  two years previously, courage was finally plucked up to attend another Christmas event with lights in a garden. This time there was a named storm coming in, so it was somewhat wet and windy, if a further reminder was required that booking ahead for outdoor events near Manchester in December is taking a risk! However, the event itself was pleasant enough, involving following a set route that meanders through and around the walled garden , past colourfully illuminated plants, trees and buildings. Hedgehogs out at night. What's Here? The Bridgewater Garden  is a Royal Horticultural Society garden, opened in 2021, in the grounds of the long demolished Worsley New Hall . The site includes a walled garden, a Chinese garden and some woodland walks, accessed by way of a grand Welcome Building with shops, a cafe and a Garden Centre. The pond in the Paradise Garden Now, the Bridgewater Garden i...

In Brief. The Western Approaches Museum is located in a bunker underneath an office building in Liverpool town centre, not far from the waterfront .  The focus of the museum is the bunker from which actions in the 2nd World War Battle of the Atlantic were coordinated. The centrepiece is a striking Operations Room, but there are also videos to provide more information, examples of equipment, staff accommodation and reconstructed streets to provide some context.  There is more on the Battle of the Atlantic in the nearby Maritime Museum . The Operations Room. What's Here? The Battle of the Atlantic involved allied convoys traversing the Atlantic Ocean, largely trying to avoid or sink German U-boats, and continued from 1939 to 1945.  The role of the Western Approaches Command, which was based in the bunker, was to coordinate the convoys, their escorts and air cover, with a view to maximising the number of ships making it through.  The museum itself is fully underground...