Day Trips from Manchester

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. 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. Barnsley is a market town, once surrounded by many collieries, with a grand town hall that hosts a modern local history museum,  Experience Barnsley , near to on the Cooper Gallery  that contains bequeathed art collections from various locals. Reflecting its status as a market town, Barnsley still hosts a thriving market, established as long ago as the 13th century. Town Hall and Crossing Vertical sculpture. What's Here? Though Barnsley covers a wide area, formally containing many surrounding settlements, the main features of the town centre are close together. Though the main shopping street contains a variety of more-or-less modern buildings, which tends to provide the opportunity for some to look past their prime, in fact the centre was bustling during my weekday visit, and everyplace seems well looked after.   The shopping area contains the popular market, and is adjacent to both a leisure area and the civic buildings. I first visited the Cooper Gallery , wh...

In Brief. Keighley is a market town just to the north of Bradford that includes among its visitor attractions the Cliffe Castle Museum , the East Riddlesden Hall and a heritage railway , so it's possible to have have a rather full day here. The Cliffe Castle museum is partly visited as a Victorian mansion but also hosts a substantial and diverse museum alongside a well maintained civic park. East Riddlesden Hall, run by the National Trust, is a compact 17th century Manor House with small but pleasant gardens and a well preserved barn. I didn't make it to the railway! The entrance to East Riddlesden Hall What's Here? Cliffe Castle Museum is more a museum than a castle, having been built in Victorian times as the home of a textile magnate. Several of the original rooms are preserved and filled with period furnishings, and the original grounds of the house are now a park. The museum is larger and more diverse than I was expecting; the diversity means that round each corner th...

In Brief. The World of Wedgwood is a visitor centre located with the main Wedgwood pottery factory. Wedgwood has been making up-market pottery in (or now close to) Stoke-on-Trent since 1759. The factory is now in a suburban location, and has well developed visitor facilities. Factory tours can be booked in advance, there is a modern museum with a comprehensive collection of Wedgwood products covering the whole history of the company, and there is an impressive tea room, reassuringly devoid of disposable cups. Josiah Wedgwood What's Here. There are several different attractions on site that could seem like the focal point of a visit. Having booked the factory tour, my assumption was that it would be the high point, but it seems that for many the tea room is the main draw. The factory tour involves meandering through various spaces where different types of pottery are being worked on, from cups and teapots to pots and ornaments. This factory is in marked contrast to the scale and im...

In Brief. In name and in principle, Norton Priory would be a priory, but in practice, little remains of the original buildings, though the layout can be discerned from the foundations. However, this is a thoroughly excavated site, and representative archeological finds are now on show in the modern museum that borders, and partially incorporates, the remains of the priory. Thus a visit primarily involves the museum and the assorted gardens, which include woodland walks and a busy and diverse walled garden. The undercroft, the most intact area of the priory. What's Here? The modern museum is the starting point for visits, with ticket sales, the shop, the cafe and the museum. The museum itself is largely in a single space, which is packed with exhibits, in particular from the priory, which was established on the site in the 12th Century and remained in use until 1536. Exhibits from the time of the priory include a reconstruction of the cloisters, tiles, carved coffin lids and skelet...