Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden is a single National Trust property containing two connected but thematically different sites.  The Water Gardens provide striking vistas from a variety of angles, and incorporate views of the much earlier abbey.  The abbey is a ruin, but one that is complete enough to evoke the community that worked and worshipped there. The Water Gardens What's Here? It would certainly be possible to spend a full day exploring this property, as in addition to the Abbey and Water Gardens, there are two valley walks, a dear park and a country house to explore. The monastery may be ruined, but it is still imposing. Tours are available with different emphases; I joined a 90-minute guided tour of the Abbey and Water Gardens. The main entrance is nearer to the Abbey than the gardens, so the tour first outlines the history and ways of life associated with the Abbey, which was founded in 1132 and eventually disbanded around 400 years later as...

In Brief The Fylde Coast runs from Fleetwood in the North, through Blackpool , to Lytham in the South. A coastal path runs the entire way, often on top of imposing sea defences and promenades, as in Cleveleys. A visit is likely to include wandering along the coast, looking out to sea across miles of sand when the tide is out. The beaches provide more than enough space for visitors, and although these are not high intensity resorts, there are a variety of facilities at the beaches and in the towns. The Fleetwood Museum provides a good introduction to the history and ways-of-life of the town. Sea Swallow statue on the promenade at Cleveleys What's Here? Since its development in Victorian times, Fleetwood has had a varied history, including as a tourist destination, a fishing port and a ferry terminal.  This varied history can be traced in the excellent Fleetwood Museum , which on my visit had enthusiastic volunteers occupying its informative themed spaces, including one on Fish...

In Brief. Buxton is a spa town that acts as a base for many visitors to the nearby Peak District. Attractions in the centre of town include a grand crescent, an opera house, the pleasant Pavilion Gardens and many and varied shops. Thus Buxton is a place for wandering about on a day trip, rather than providing a single highlight that must be seen. Buxton Crescent What's Here? The highest profile tourist attractions are clustered together in a relatively flat part of hilly Buxton near the original spring. The late 18th Century Buxton Crescent hosts a hotel, appropriately with a spa, and the Buxton Crescent Experience to provide an introduction to the history of the town and in particular the spa.  The Experience is a quirky museum, with a variety of display rooms that include a balloon trip to Buxton wearing Virtual Reality goggles, short films and a consultation with a doctor on the ailments of the day.  The late Victorian Opera House and Winter Gardens The nearby Pavilion Gar...

In Brief. Long before you see the actual house, various monuments adorn the landscape, suggesting there may be more to  Castle Howard than in a typical country house. This turns out to be the case, with an imposing exterior and elaborate interiors that just manage to avoid being too over the top. The house stands in the centre of extensive grounds that include a grandiose fountain, a large walled garden, woodland walks and ponds. Castle Howard is also adjacent to the Yorkshire Arboretum . The house from the Atlas Fountain to the south. What's Here? Castle Howard is entered through a courtyard that could itself be visited for the open air cafe and assorted shops. From there, paths lead to the side of the house, and the imposing north front only comes into view incrementally.  In fact, it's so wide that seeing the whole facade involves wandering down the slope towards the Great Lake. The house itself was largely build during the 18th Century, on the site of a former castle, and...

In Brief. Well known for its historic walls and cathedral, Chester also hosts several museums for rainy days. Located close together in the compact city centre, the Grosvenor Museum is a traditional museum that includes the story of Roman Chester, Sick to Death is a modern museum on disease and healthcare for those who are not hypochondriacs, and the Cheshire Military Museum provides extensive coverage of the long history of Cheshire regiments. Reconstructed WWW1 trench in Cheshire Military Museum What's Here? The Grosvenor Museum is a municipal museum in a custom-built Victorian building named after the nobleman who contributed to the establishment of the museum. Much of the ground floor focuses on Roman Chester, including a collection of tombstones that were unearthed during excavations of the city walls; these are complemented by artefacts that support the description of life in a Roman garrison town. Other exhibition spaces are more focused on arts and crafts, including two...

In Brief Hoghton Tower is an imposing 16th Century Manor House and Garden on an elevated site approached by a straight driveway of at least a kilometre. One of its towers fell victim to an ammunition explosion during the Civil War, so although entry is by a robust gatehouse tower, its tallest tower is no more. Largely refurbished in late Victorian times, the house features impressive oak interiors, and a guided tour provides a narrative on the evolving building, royal visits and the family that has owned the estate since the 12th century. Approaching Hoghton Tower What's Here? Most human contact at Houghton Tower is with enthusiastic volunteers, and guided tours run regularly through the day. I took one of these, and it was certainly helpful for bringing the house to life. Having been vacant for over a century, the refurbishment in the 1880s means that the interiors are in uniformly good condition, with wood panelling, and some earlier furniture and fittings. There are various fin...

In Brief. Powis Castle is a 13th century fortress near Welshpool looked after by the National Trust. Though it occupies a lofty, and thus surely defendable position, the castle has been a country house for several centuries, and features fine interiors from widely different periods. The elevated position provides views over the terraced gardens that lead down to lawns, other formal gardens and some woodland walks. The Castle and 17th century Yew trees from the top terrace. What's Here? Occupying a hilltop, the castle tends to be viewed from below, with steep terraces leading down to a large lawn and some formal gardens, before the grounds rise again to a wooded area. Although the gardens are interesting in themselves, the eyes tend to be drawn to the red castle that towers over them. The courtyard The castle itself is accessed through a courtyard that offers views over the gardens and hosts the cafe and the Clive Museum. The museum holds a remarkable collection of artefacts from I...

In Brief. The Martin Mere Wetland Centre occupies a substantial rural site in Lancashire, to the East of Southport, run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust . This site includes a relatively managed area that hosts the cafe, visitor centre and its own collection of birds (and otters) from around the globe. The bulk of the area, however, consists of habitats for wild birds, including the mere itself and a reedbed, which can be visited from a network of paths and observed in several hides. A Coscoroba swan on an impressive nest. What's Here? The area occupied by the wetland centre has had a complicated history, having once been a large lake that was drained for farmland, and which has more recently been converted into habitats for wildfowl. Thus, like various Royal Society for the Protection of Birds sites, such as St Aidans , the landscape looks like it could be natural, but in fact is carefully managed.  The Mere from Discovery Hide As many of the residents migrate, there are differ...

In Brief. Sheffield hosts two national museums, which are 10 minutes walk apart, just to the north and east of the City Centre. The National Emergency Services Museum is located in a police and fire station dating from 1900, and includes a wide range of displays and artefacts on the history of these and other emergency services. The National Videogame Museum contains a single large space occupied by arcade games, gaming consoles and computers, providing an opportunity to try out computer games from the last 50 years. Not all the characters at the Videogame museum are digital. What's Here? The National Emergency Services Museum has a low-key exterior, in the form of a historic redbrick building adjacent to the recently redeveloped Riverside district. However, the building is deceptively spacious, and the museum uses features of the building as to support its narrative. So, for example, the area on the police focuses on the history of policing, and uses the original cells to review...

In Brief. The Halewood car factory in Merseyside has been manufacturing Ford and, more recently, Jaguar Land Rover vehicles since the early 1960s.  Guided tours of the factory lead small groups through the manufacturing process from pressing of metal sheets into car body panels, through assembly and fitting-out, to final quality assessment and testing.  The factory is large and impressive, with cars made to order following a just-in-time manufacturing process, and the tour provides a detailed and informative run through. The JLR Experience Centre What's Here? Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) provides factory tours  at both its main manufacturing sites, at Solihull and Halewood. Halewood has been making JLR products since the Jaguar X-Type in the early 2000s, and at the time of my visit was making both Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque models at the site. These share the same underlying platform and engines, and vehicle models can alternate through much of the prod...

In Brief. Bradford hosts the National Science and Media Museum in a large modern building in the city centre, which features engaging hands-on science exhibits and comprehensive spaces on aspects of the media, such as the history of photography, and media technologies and their uses. The Industrial Museum  occupies a former mill building, and is more conventional in basing exhibits on important collections of steam engines, textile machinery and motor vehicles. Science and Media Museum What's Here? The National Science and Media Museum is a large, engaging and modern museum.  The focus seems to be more on media than science, with a substantial and varied Sound and Vision exhibition across two floors covering a variety of media related topics from hardware to special effects.  These include items such as cameras and props, and a wide range of focused areas, for example on sound recording and the Cottingley Fairies . There is also a floor on the history of photography and ...

In Brief. The Harris is an imposing neo-classical cultural hub in the centre of Preston, housing a museum, art gallery, library and cafe. Recently renovated, the interior blends light modern displays with decorative original features, and both the building and its contents make this an impressive destination. Outside the city, Wild Discovery complements The Harris by providing some natural history; in practice, it is a small zoo with a collection of healthy looking residents, in particular birds and mammals. The Central Hall of The Harris from the 3rd floor. What's Here? The Harris dates from 1893, and from the start had a broad remit provided by a trust established by a local lawyer (Edmund Harris) to fund a library, museum and art gallery.  All elements are still present, with a library on the ground floor, a museum on the first floor and an art gallery on the second floor.  However, the Central Hall itself hosts a variety of displays on art and history, so overall there a...

In Brief. The Fusilier Museum  captures the history of the Lancashire Fusiliers Regiment, which turns out to have served in a huge variety of places and conflicts during its history.  The substantial museum primarily traces its history chronologically, with descriptions of deployments, personal stories and artefacts such as uniforms, letters and weapons.  Adjacent to the Fusilier Museum is the Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre , which features exhibits from the town's own collections as well as evolving exhibitions. The Fusilier Museum and memorial garden. What's Here? The current Royal Regiment of Fusiliers can trace its ancestry back through the Lancashire Fusiliers to Peyton's Regiment of Foot in 1688.  As a result, the regiment has had deployments in a diverse collection of settings, as varied as the Battle of Culloden in Scotland and the Battle of the Somme in the First World War. Thus there is a lot of history to report on, and the museum contains informat...

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...

In Brief. Several towns in Cheshire, typically those with names ending in wich (Northwich, Nantwich, Middlewich), developed in significant measure through salt production, initially from brine springs, but later from more intensive mining and extraction techniques. The Lion Salt Works  is a restored salt making site plus museum that provides a vivid introduction to the steps involved in moving from brine to sellable salt. Moving coal to the salt works and salt to markets required canals, and the  The Anderton Boat Lift , just a few miles from the Lion Salt Works, connects waterways that, among other things, supported the salt-making industry.  The Anderton Boat Lift What's Here? The Lion Salt Works sits on ground that includes two layers of salt beds. A pump extracted brine from these salt beds, which then went through a series of processes for which the original buildings and some of the equipment are preserved in the museum. These include substantial salt pans, where th...

In Brief. The British Commercial Vehicle Museum  at Leyland and the Lakeland Motor Museum near the southern end of Lake Windermere host substantial collections of motor vehicles of different types and from different periods. In both museums, the standard experience is wandering past pristine vehicles, and reading a little about them on displays.  The Lakeland Motor Museum also hosts an exhibition on Donald and Malcolm Campbell, and their land and water speed records. A vintage MG sports car. What's Here? The  Lakeland Motor Museum  hosts an eclectic collection of vehicles, including bicycles, motor bikes and cars. For many visitors, this will include vehicles that they recognise, as well as models that are now rarely if ever seen on the road. The vehicles are well maintained, and some are accompanied by some comments on the model or the specific vehicle.  With an emphasis on speed, there are displays on the Isle of Man TT races including bikes that have been ra...