Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester, the lush National Trust site built up on a disused railway viaduct, has announced plans of night time activity this winter.
The beautiful parkin the sky will be inviting visitors to see the urban green space by nightfall.
There’ll be a free Lantern Lates series where the park will transform into a ‘magical, sparkling grotto’.
Visitors can climb up to Castlefield Viaduct, the huge industrial landmark that has views right across Manchester city centre, and savour the winter wonderland created for the coming season.
It’s before the National Trust project closes for a few weeks in the new year for work to refresh the gardens for spring and summer.
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The viaduct itself has been abandoned since 1969, until the charity revealed plans to turn it into a sky park similar to New York’s High Line.
The temporary urban garden has attracted thousands of visitors and the National Trust is now fundraising to secure a permanent future for the project, which is currently closing in September 2024.
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Along with the Lantern Lates series, Castlefield Viaduct’s other night time events will include a Winter Garden Tour, where guides will explain the stories behind winter plants like holly, ivy and mistletoe.
Castlefield Viaduct has a series of night time events including a Lantern Lates light trail. Credit: David Bewick/National Trust.
And at the end of it all there’ll be a Cosy Corner, a relaxing spot with books, boardgames and crafts.
The Cosy Corner will be built at the far end of the Castlefield Viaduct park, where huge windows look across the overgrown and untouched section of the old railway bridge.
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Castlefield Viaduct is the ideal spot to escape all the madness of the silly season and non-stop parties going on in the city below.
It’s open all the way through winter until Saturday 2 January (except Christmas Day and Boxing Day), with free entry. You can book morning tours on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, or take a wander after 12.30pm on those days or any time on Wednesdays, weekends and bank holidays.
Lantern Lates at Castlefield Viaduct
17 November 2023 – 1 January 2024, 3.30pm – 5pm | Free – Drop-in
As the nights draw in Castlefield Viaduct transforms into a magical, sparkling grotto.
From 3.30pm to 5pm every day, drop in to wander along the light trail and visit the garden in the sky in a different way. It’s the perfect time for a moment of rest above the busy city, take in Greater Manchester’s 21st century skyline and maybe even spot a bat or two.
Get out of the busy city streets and join Castlefield Viaduct for a tour around some festive flora.
Nature has long associations with this time of the year from holly and ivy to mistletoe and chestnuts. Your guide will tell you the stories behind some of the winter plants on the viaduct and introduce the beauty of winter in the garden.
11 December 2023 – 1 January 2024, daily | Free – Drop-in
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Warm up and chill out… After a walk through the winter garden take some time out in the Castlefield Viaduct Cosy Corner.
This December the visitor building will be transformed into a relaxing spot with books, board games and easy crafts plus the spectacular views of the wild viaduct and Castlefield below. Take a break from the rush, settle in with a good read or simply watch nature go by.
The viaduct is a temporary project from the National Trust and due to permanently close after summer 2024. To help secure a future for the project and help the garden grow, you can make a donation or give one as a gift? Click here to give direct to Castlefield Viaduct.
Featured image: David Bewick/National Trust
Travel & Tourism
Chester Zoo opens massive ‘African savannah’, one of the UK’s largest-ever habitats
Daisy Jackson
Chester Zoo has today opened its doors and revealed a magnificent new African savannah habitat, the Heart of Africa – one of the largest in the UK.
The massive new habitat at the beloved attraction is home to dozens of African species, including giraffes, rhino, zebra, vultures and meerkats.
Chester Zoo has created a vast open savannah where guests can come across species living side-by-side, as well as new indoor habitats where you can see smaller species like never before, and habitats you can clamber inside.
The centrepiece of the Heart of Africa is the savannah, where you can see giraffes, Grevy’s zebras, roan antelopes and ostriches all roaming together across grasses and water.
As you weave around the incredible new habitat, which spans an area the size of 17 football pitches (22.5 acres), you’ll also come across several new aviaries where birds hoot, tweet and screech.
There are 31 species of bird here, including a fabulous flock of 120 greater flamingos, three types of critically endangered vulture, colourful black cheeked lovebirds, and Africa’s largest owl, the Verreaux’s eagle owl.
One of the most impressive new areas is the Hidden Savannah, where you can clamber inside a safari jeep that’s within the actual enclosure, so that you can see 10,000 locusts all around you from the driver’s seat.
This indoor habitat is also home to adorable, wrinkly little naked mole rats, who have a network of tunnels to burrow through, and other rodents like short-eared sengi and pygmy mice.
Heart of Africa at Chester Zoo, in pictures
Heart of Africa at Chester Zoo, in pictures. Credit: The Manc Group
As for the cold-blooded animals, or ectotherms, there’s Trevor the African bull frog, plus dung beetles, red spitting cobra, Ethiopian viper and pancake tortoises.
There are 15 other mammal species to encounter too, including African wild dogs, meerkats, Eastern black rhino, yellow mongoose, and dik-dik.
The Heart of Africa stands as a symbol of Chester Zoo’s continued conservation efforts across the continent, which includes combatting poaching and illegal wildlife trade.
It’s thought that the Heart of Africa will attract an additional 200,000 visitors to Chester Zoo each year while creating 30 new jobs.
Heart of Africa officially opens to visitors on Saturday 5 April – you can book zoo tickets HERE.
Two Greater Manchester towns have been named in The Sunday Times’ best places to live
Thomas Melia
Esteemed UK newspaper The Sunday Times’ has published its list of the ‘Best places to live in the UK 2025’, and it features two Greater Manchester boroughs.
Us Mancs didn’t need anymore clarification to know that where we live is incredible but we’ll always take it, especially when the compliment is coming from none other than The Sunday Times.
The publication revealed its annual guide of ‘Best places to live 2025’ which featured more than 70 different locations throughout the nation.
Although we may have been pipped to the top spot, Greater Manchester is featured not once, but twice, which is pretty impressive.
Claiming the victory this year is the market town with a name as pretty as its surroundings, Saffron Walden, which is only 15 miles from Cambridge.
The locations were ranked through a number of key categories including transport, house prices, broadband, schools and a new addition, mobile signal.
All the contributors to the full list acknowledge the obvious missing puzzle piece,food, and we know if this was factored in a few more Greater Manchester locations may have nabbed the ‘Best places to live’ honour.
The first Greater Manchester based entry is The Heatons, a hotspot nestled between the city centreand the city of Stockport, which is actually four neighbourhoods – Heaton Chapel, Mersey, Moor and Norris.
These areas are home to living history in the form of the iconic century old Savoy Cinema and lots of open green spaces.
Food may have been missed off The Sunday Times’ list but it certainly didn’t go a miss on ours.
Mossley has been named on The Sunday Times Best Places to Live list. Credit: Instagram, @ariadneexploresThe Heatons also made the list. Credit: Instagram, @fourtheheatons
The second spot which managed to grab the title of ‘Best places to live 2025’ is Mossley, a town packed to the brim with cosy cottages, blissful walks and a close-knit friendly community.
It’s not too far from Dovestone Reservoir and the Peak District National Park – when you’ve got all this greenery on your doorstep you’re bound to be in a good mood.
Our friends over in Leeds at The Hoothave lots to cheer about as Ilkley, Hebden Bridge, Easingwold and Ripon all got a mention.
You can find out the full rundown on all the spots up and down the country that have been selected as part of ‘The Sunday Times’ Best places to live for 2025′ HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
6th December 2023 
