The magical Manchester park that’s basically Disneyland for dogs
With attractions like squirrel chasing and ‘Wimbledog’ tennis, a bespoke pet taxi service and small, tailored play groups, Doggyland Park is changing the face of doggy daycare in the city
Over on the outskirts of the city centre is a new park just for dogs that’s been purpose-built for playtime.
Here, dogs are matched in small groups with similar sizes and temperaments to take part in a variety of assault courses and attractions, ranging from assault courses and squirrel chasing to their very own ‘Wimbledog’ tennis court.
There’s even a dedicated ‘pet taxi’ service included as standard for busy owners, meaning that dogs can easily be picked up and dropped back at home without you having to worry or lift a finger.
Formerly a derelict car park in Miles Platting, this patch of land hasn’t been used since the 1970s – that is, until Doggyland co-owners Beth Lemons and Pablo Perez took it on mid-pandemic and swiftly set to work transforming it with their bare hands.
Prior to that, Beth had worked in dentistry for over a decade whilst her partner Pablo had worked as a mental health doctor since coming to the UK in 2016.
However, both had begun to feel ‘a spark of playfulness was missing’ in their professional lives so, when they hit upon the idea of Doggyland Park during the pandemic, they saw it as a new opportunity ‘to build a culture of happiness and mental well-being” for their staff and for themselves.
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“Nowadays doggies are people’s children, and we take it as seriously as that!”
Beth Lemons, co-founder of Doggyland Park
Using nothing but a mattock and a wheelbarrow, whilst the country was in lockdown the couple busied themselves by planting trees, hedges and grass, bringing in woodchips and sand, then building various dog-themed attractions, before finally opening the gates to their first doggy visitors last year.
Nine months on, it is filled with happy dogs of all sizes busily charging around assault courses, sniffing butts, bulldozing through tunnels and popping out of teeny, tiny dog houses – with an average of 45 bookings a week.
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The park has been inspired by Beth and Pablo’s dog Bella, who just so happens to bear a strriking resemblance to Lady in Lady and the Tramp.
Describing the whole thing as “reverse engineering”, Beth explains:
“First we thought : what do dogs like? and then we accommodated everything else to that concept.
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“It wasn’t like…we have a building, lets pack 40 dogs inside. Our idea was, Bella ( our dog) doesn’t like what the market is offering, what would Bella, really, really like?
“Well…be with her friends, outdoors, off lead, chasing things, smelling things, playing, running…
“We provide for other doggies what we wanted for Bella and for us. And what do we want for Bella?
“That she is safe, that she is happy with her little group of friends, that her carers can pick up on signs when she is not fully happy and correct it… and that’s what Doggyland is, it’s her gigantic playground, but also everybody else’s.”
Image: The Manc Group
Image: The Manc Group
An alternative to doggy daycare and dog walking, play sessions at Doggyland Park are small, with a ratio of one staff member to every three dogs.
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Whilst Beth acknowledges this means they are ‘perhaps [their] own worst enemy’ when it comes to growth, by ensuring that dogs are looked after in small groups, with a maximum of six per session, they can avoid some pitfalls common to the industry.
Sessions last roughly two hours and focus on creating harmony amongst the pack – all important for eradicating common industry problems like altercations, disputes for toys, lack of enrichment and personalised attention.
Aside from the two co-founders, Doggyland Park’s team is also made up of four other highly qualified, enthusiastic, wonderful people who Beth describes as being “more like family members than colleagues”.
You can still see on Google Street View how it looked before, but we hear that the neighbours are massively impressed with how the views from their balconies have changed – greatly improved after what ended up being a full year of intense manual labour. .
Speaking on their journey over the past few years, Beth said: “Nine months ago we opened Doggyland Park’s gates for the first time, it has been a lovely journey and we wouldn’t change it for anything!
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“Coming from heavily regulated fields, we have been able to combine our occupational awareness for safety and good practice with the niceties of caring for adorable pooches.
“Opening our own business has been more fulfilling than we could have ever imagined!”
Feature image – The Manc Group
Manchester
This Manchester suburb has just been named one of the UK’s ‘happiest’ places to live in 2024
Thomas Melia
An annual poll has named the Manchester suburb of Didsbury spot among 70 locations said to be the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.
Greater Manchester has got lots to say for itself, especially with its diverse and unique cultural landscapes, as well as various vibrant communities, so it comes as no surprise that one of our beautiful suburbs has been voted in a list of the UK’s happiest places to live for this year.
The survey included submissions from 5,000 people and there’s a lot of love being shown to the neighbouring areas of Yorkshire like Doncaster, Bingley, and Harrogate – the lattermost placed in second in the entire country.
But, ranking 62nd out of a possible 70 places, the distinct and vibrant area of Didsbury has been noticed by Furniturebox as one of the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.
Credit: The Manc Group
The results took into consideration good state schools, affordable housing, as well as accessibility to pubs, bars, restaurants, independent shops, retailers and more.
With multiple parks, walking destinations, and top-notch travel links with Bee Network trams and buses easily taking you back into the city centre and out to other boroughs, East, West and Didsbury Village all remain some of the most sought-after areas in the region.
There’s a whole host of indie retailers to enjoy, especially on the likes of the main high street and Burton Road, which effectively serves as its own cultural district, home to vintage clothing shops like Steranko, tailored styling opticians Fox Brothers and much more.
Burton Rd also boasts countless fantastic food and drink spots like The Great Kathmandu, SANTÉ, Volta and Proove Pizza, just to name a few; we’ve spent plenty of time just on this stretch of Didsbury alone.
If you’ve spent even a little time in Dids, you’ll know there’s plenty going on and it’s certainly one our happiest places in all of Greater Manchester and therefore the UK.
You can also enjoy the famous ‘Didsbury Dozen’ right on your doorstep.
Elsewhere, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Shakespeare’s ever-romanticised hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon once again reigned supreme at the top of this list.
That being said, it’s refreshing to see that these locations weren’t entirely related to wealth and similar factors, the survey took affordability into careful consideration.
Cheshire was destined for success with its cracking views and grand properties, as the North West county made waves for the region managing to place in fifth position, holding up against Falmouth in Cornwall which placed in sixth.
Although not nabbing that all-important top spot, Didsbury is carrying the flag for 0161 and showing what all know to be true: Northerners do it best.
Blossoms at O2 Ritz Manchester – five-night hometown residency is already a triumph
Daisy Jackson
Blossoms are a band who were born and forged here in Greater Manchester, and now they’re back retracing their steps with a five-night residency across the venues that launched them into the big leagues.
Their star has risen all the way to arena level and headline shows at Wythenshawe Park at this point, especially here in their hometown, so the chance to see them back in these cosy-ish little venues is special, and a little bizarre.
For night two of their landmark sold-out gig series, it was the turn of the O2 Ritz, that sweaty spot off Oxford Road where the floor bounces downstairs and you stick to the carpets upstairs.
Poetically, the first time I ever saw Blossoms was in this very room in 2016, when they had the mid-afternoon slot at Neighbourhood festival and the queue to get in went all the way back to St Peter’s Square.
Since those days, Blossoms have come a long, long way, and their live show has evolved and matured from five lads thrashing on their instruments to this well-oiled, hip-swaying, flares-wearing, chart-topping machine.
There’s even choreography now – how fancy!
A stand-out moment from the show is actually a song from their new, fifth studio album Gary, which is still barely eight weeks old.
A spoof recording of legendary Manchester indie club 42s rings out, then all five band members abandon their stations, slinging keytars and marching drums around their necks so that they can dance together in front of neon signs.
Blossoms have just done their second of five shows in Manchester, this time at the O2 Ritz. Credit: The Manc GroupBlossoms on stage at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Blossoms promised more disco with this album and they bloody meant it. It’s not just the flares and the blow-dries and the moustaches (though those do help) – it’s in the funk and groove that’s gradually crept into their music exponentially with each album release.
This is still indie rock but it’s the most danceable of its genre. Good luck keeping your shoulders from wiggling and jiggling in here. Good luck keeping that grin off your face.
And Gary is one of the most unexpectedly fun albums to be released in the last year – the fact they called it Gary, named after a giant fibreglass garden centre Gorilla, should’ve been our clue. It could border on silly were it not such a masterpiece.
It seems like the only thing Blossoms are trying to prove is that you can be wildly successful without taking yourself too seriously. They just seem like a group who want to have a good time and it’s totally infectious.
Case in point – when each band member is introduced, keyboardist Myles Kellock plays the riff of Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz. Unexpected.
Blossoms also clearly give a sh*t about their live shows and graft at it – I’ve seen these guys an awful lot and it’s because their tour dates are plentiful and consistently worth the ticket price.
This is definitely the biggest era of their career so far, but have they peaked? Not even close.
Georgina Pellant -
29th July 2022 
