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
Blackpool named the UK’s ‘most romantic’ place for a getaway
Emily Sergeant
It may not be a headline you were expecting to read today, but the best places in the UK for a romantic getaway have just been named.
And Blackpool is sitting right at the top of the list.
In case you hadn’t heard, or clocked the date yet, Valentine’s Day is coming up on Friday, so what better way to celebrate the international day of love in all its glory than whisking you and your loved one away on a romantic trip or day out, right?
While most couples would probably have faraway tropical island resorts or European cosmopolitan cities at the top of their travel bucket lists, realistically, that doesn’t always fit into everyone’s budgets, and often leaves us having to stay a little closer to home… but, is Lancashire a little too close? We’d have to go with yes.
Don’t get us wrong, there’s some stunning rural Lancashire villages and towns that should absolutely be destinations on your lists to visit sometime soon, but Blackpool doesn’t exactly scream romance.
Blackpool has been named one of the UK’s ‘most romantic’ places for a getaway / Credit: Pixahive | Pexels
Despite our initial reactions, it’s true – the Lancashire seaside resort town has been named the best place in the UK for a romantic getaway, according to a research study by travel deals site Tripplo.
The company examined several factors to devise the list of six, including the number of romantic hotels in each city, the total number of reviews for romantic hotels in each town, the average number of reviews, the average Booking.com rating, the average price, and the average star rating – with all hotels filtered using Booking.com’s ‘romantic hotels’ filter.
An overall ‘romance score’ was then created for each location by equally taking into consideration the number of romantic hotels per 100,000 people, average Booking.com rating, average price per night, and average star rating.
And Blackpool came out as number one.
The seaside resort town achieved an overall romance score of 73.34 out of 100 / Credit: Mark McNeill (via Unsplash)
Achieving an overall romance score of 73.34 out of 100, Blackpool, impressively, was found to have 60 romantic hotels per 100,000 people – which is the sixth highest amount in the UK – and an average Booking.com rating of 8.81, while it also ranked as the cheapest, with the average price of an overnight stay being £103.95 per night.
It did, however, have an average star rating for the romantic hotels as 3.55, which is unfortunately the third lowest in the country.
If Blackpool in the top spot wasn’t shocking enough as it is, the rest of the list is also pretty questionable too – with the top six being rounded out by Preston, Bath, Wrexham, Chester, and, wait for it… Burnley.
So for once when it comes to a top 10 ranking, the North – and particularly, the North West – is a very well-represented region, so let’s take our wins where we can get them.
Treehouse Hotel Manchester finally announces opening date – and it’s soon
Daisy Jackson
One of the most hotly-anticipated new hotel openings in Manchester, Treehouse Hotel, has finally confirmed its launch date.
The major new opening has been slowly transforming the brutalist tower at the end of Deansgate, formerly long-standing hotel the Renaissance, into a ‘whimsical, forest-inspired’ accommodation.
Once it opens, Treehouse Hotel will bring 224 guest rooms, including nine suites and three accessible rooms, to Manchester.
Also opening on the ground floor of the huge building will be Pip, by acclaimed local chef Mary-Ellen McTague, showcasing a low-waste cooking approach with seasonally sourced ingredients.
Just announced too as part of Treehouse Hotel Manchester is Sister Moon by Sam Grainger, a 14th-floor Southeast Asian dining destination set to open later in 2025.
Work has been ongoing at the site for several years now, with an initial launch date pencilled in for summer 2023.
But things are finally coming together and Treehouse Hotel Manchester has now announced it will open the doors to its ‘playful and free-spirited’ hotel on Wednesday 19 March.
This ‘one-of-a-kind’ addition to Manchester’s thriving hotel scene follows SH Hotels & Resorts (soon to be Starwood Hotels) launch of its first Treehouse property in London in 2019.
A glimpse inside the rooms at Treehouse Hotel Manchester. Credit: Brad Matthews
The new hotel aims to provide a ‘unique retreat for visitors seeking both comfort and an element of adventure’.
Its interiors will blend the enchanting charm of a forest with the hotel’s signature ‘perfectly imperfect’ design ethos.
And they’ve called upon some of the North West’s most celebrated culinary names to craft the dining and drinking options, Pip and the newly-announced Sister Moon.
Also up on the 14th floor will be The Nest in Treehouse, a space with sweeping city views and a lively atmosphere.
Pip Restaurant will open at the new Treehouse Hotel. Credit: Supplied
And up on the top of the hotel will be The Hideout, an intimate rooftop lounge and terrace, with Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford leading a series of events across the hotel.
Treehouse Hotel Manchester will have on-site facilities that include a 43-seat Flix screening room, a state-of-the-art Playground gym, and meeting rooms named after trees.
There’s nothing like a bit of shrubbery to break up the grey-scale skyscraper landscape of Manchester and this next new opening has taken it to the next level.
Stays at Treehouse Hotel Manchester start from £199 per night, with bookings now open HERE.