Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. Harrow Carr is a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) garden and visitor centre set in rolling countryside around a stream. The garden itself includes substantial borders, but there are also meandering paths with smaller borders, an arboretum, a woodland walk and a kitchen garden. The adjacent visitor facilities include an outpost of Betty's Tea Rooms  with superior cakes, and a garden centre in case the visit to the garden has provided suitable inspiration. The main borders What's Here? Harrow Carr is a large, mature garden adjacent to a 19th Century spa.  The most labour-intensive component is likely the borders, which include the substantial main borders that occupy one side of the valley down to the stream, and the smaller areas that surround paths that loosely follow the stream.  In my July visit, the borders were lush and often colourful. However, there are many other features to the gardens, which could be visited in any order.  The arboretum includes...

In Brief. Jaguar provide a variety of Driving Experiences , at their Fen End test track near Coventry, which complement their factory tours .  I booked a 1 hour F-type Experience that involved 1-to-1 instruction in a variety of scenarios in a 575hp F-type R.  The scenarios included driving the main track, catching slides on a skid pan, navigating a slalom set out with cones, and hunting for the racing line in a small but technical track. Overall, this gives rise to a memorable if intensive session, with new and unfamiliar skills try to pick up quickly for each of these scenarios.  The hardware. What's Here? Fen End is a former military airfield, and thus in essence a large flat area that houses the various tracks and a few buildings. The main facility on the site prepares vehicles for press activities and model launches. The session starts with a short briefing about the different activities, and then it is down to action. Each participant is assigned an instructor who is...