Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. The National Railway Museum in York is a long established destination on the history of railways in the UK, with a large collection of engines and carriages, as well as exhibitions, for example on signalling.  The collection includes famous locomotives such as The Flying Scotsman and Mallard (the world's fastest steam locomotive), as well as an impressive collection of Royal trains from over the years. Mallard, a record holder at 126mph in 1938 What's Here? The National Railway Museum has two main exhibition spaces, the Great Hall and the Station Hall. The former features a wide collection of locomotives from the history of train travel, from a reconstruction of Stephenson's Rocket  through a variety of other steam locomotives to the Intercity 125 and the Eurostar.  Although these could perhaps have been used to tell a story on the evolution of railways, in practice the space feels more like a collection of different exhibits than a history of the railways. ...

In Brief. In common with several other gardens, Biddulph Grange near Congleton hosts a ticketed evening event in December, which primarily consists of a walk through the garden, where trees and plants have been lit up in bright colours.  In addition to this, Biddulph Grange had various themed areas, such as a decorated cottage, and areas with illuminated deer and penguins.  Our experience of these events is that the weather really matters, so with tickets sometimes selling out ahead of time, some risk-taking is involved. The weather for our Biddulph Grange visit was somewhat cold but clear, so the garden looked good and there was no need to rush back for a hot chocolate. The lake, illuminated. What's Here? Biddulph Grange, as reported in an earlier blog in this series , is a collection of diverse, engaging and sometimes quirky gardens that is well worth a visit. The festive lights follow a trail through the garden, which includes the lake (illustrated), a wooded area and seve...