Travel & Tourism

The world’s ‘most captivating’ Unesco site is just an hour from Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 8th October 2023

The most captivating Unesco World Heritage sites in the world has been named, with beauty spots like the Rocky Mountains, the Galápagos Islands, and the Taj Mahal on the list.

With such big landmarks on the list, you probably think the UK didn’t even get a look-in – but weirdly, we came out in the number one spot?

That’s right. One of the UK’s 33 UNESCO World Heritage Sites managed to nudge ahead of all the others to be named the ‘most captivating’ in the entire world.

The crown has gone to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal in Wales, a former feat of Industrial Revolution engineering from which is now a tourist attraction where you can kayak across its top, 38 metres in the air.

The most captivating UNESCO World Heritage Site is also, handily, just an hour’s drive from Manchester.

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The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct placed first, ahead of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks in Canada, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia.

It was also the only UK site to make it in the top 20.

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This list of winners has been drawn up by Explore Worldwide, who used eye-tracking technology to see which site held people’s attention for the longest.

And apparently we just couldn’t look away from the big aqueduct in Wales.

They said of the aqueduct, easily reachable in a day trip from Manchester: “Leading the pack of most eye-catching UNESCO sites, that promise to leave you spellbound, is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal in the United Kingdom.

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“This extraordinary feat of civil engineering, which floats over the River Dee, claimed the top spot. The Welsh landmark is the highest and longest navigable aqueduct in the world, attracting visitors thanks to its stunning views and historical significance.”

The most captivating UNESCO World Heritage sites in the world

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct an hour from Manchester has been named the most captivating UNESCO World Heritage site in the world
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct an hour from Manchester has been named the most captivating UNESCO World Heritage site in the world
  • 1) Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal, United Kingdom
  • 2) Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Canada
  • 3) Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea, Brazil
  • 4) = Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
  • 4) = Maloti-Drakensberg Park, South Africa
  • 5) Island of Mozambique, Mozambique
  • 6) Ancient City of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
  • 7) = Angkor Wat, Cambodia
  • 7) = Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán, Mexico
  • 8) Sceilg Mhichíl, Ireland
  • 9) Petra, Jordan
  • 10) Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities), Japan
  • 11) Yellowstone National Park, United States
  • 12) Taj Mahal, India
  • 13) Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
  • 14) Rapa Nui National Park (Easter Island), Chile
  • 15) Piazza del Duomo, Pisa, Italy
  • 16) Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration (Mount Fuji), Japan
  • 17) Historic Centre of Lima, Peru
  • 18) Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa, China
  • 19) Palace and Park of Versailles, France
  • 20) Statue of Liberty, United States

You can see the full data here.

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Featured image: Wikimedia Commons

Travel & Tourism

Manchester Museum has been shortlisted for the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester Museum shortlisted for Museum of the Year 2024

Another bit of very well-deserved recognition for our city as the Manchester Museum has been shortlisted for the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.

Organised by the independent and membership-based British charity, which raises funds through the collection of important works and artefacts, it’s world the single largest museum prize in the world.

Shining as one of the crown jewels in Manchester’s cultural scene, the museum has been named among five other impressive finalists for this year’s award, which is evaluating inspiring projects from autumn 2022 through to winter 2023.

This wonderful news comes at a good time for Manchester Museum, which recently welcomed its one-millionth visitor since reopening to the public in February last year, following a £15 million values-led redevelopment. It really is back with a bang.

With Art Fund keeping audiences and communities at their heart, the highly revered accolade has a particular focus on community engagement, sustainable ways of working, and demonstration of ambition by reinventing what it means to be ‘the best’ museum for the audiences of today and tomorrow.

For context, the Manchester Museum (which sits as part of the University of Manchester) was the most visited indoor museum in the North of England throughout 2023, despite being shut for an entire month, welcoming a total of 790,332 people through their doors.

Speaking on this year’s selection, director Jenny Waldman, who heads up the 2024 judging panel, has applauded each of this year’s finalists for delivering “something for everyone” and keeping “community at the very heart of their programming.”

“Their commitment to innovative partnerships whilst operating within an extremely challenging funding environment is incredible”, she added. “I’m so pleased to see the way they support and centre young people through their work.

“Across a wide range of size and scale, these organisations are all real leaders in their field. I urge everyone to go and visit these extremely special spaces.” So do we.

name of the t-rex manchester museum
We’d recommend going along to Stand the T-Rex alone
manchester museum up for art fund annual award
You’ve got to see the giant Japanese spider crab
(Credit: Manchester Museum/Matthew via Flickr)

As for the museum themselves, Director Esme Ward said of the announcement: “Manchester Museum’s redevelopment was the result of 10 years’ collective endeavour, so being shortlisted for Art Fund Museum of the Year is a moment of joy for everyone to share in, from staff and partners to our communities and Manchester itself.

“It is an affirmation of museums’ power to bring people together in building a more inclusive, hopeful future.”

Built on self-proclaimed values of “inclusion, imagination and care”, the museum’s recent reopening has positioned it at the forefront of the sector here in the UK, with new galleries, partnerships, visitor facilities, sector-leading programming and digital innovations.

These updates, along with their existing and award-winning South Asia Gallery – the largest and first permanent gallery in the UK to celebrate the experiences and contribution of the South Asian diaspora co-curated by members from the community itself – are what have helped put it in the running for this prestigious prize.

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Visitor numbers for the first year following reopening were up 157% on 2019/20, with 57% of those being new attendees and more than one in seven’s first trip to a museum ever.

The other four shortlisted museums are the Craven Museum in Skipton, North Yorkshire; Dundee Contemporary Arts, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Young V&A – Victoria and Albert Museum, also in the capital.

The winning museum will be announced at a ceremony at the National Gallery in London on 10 July and will receive £120,000 to put towards internal projects and cultural work. Better still, £15,000 will be given to each of the four other finalists, so everyone’s a winner in a way.

Congratulations again to everyone at Manchester Museum and well done for all your incredible hard work – we can’t wait to be right about you again in a couple of months when we’re confident you’ll be rightly named as the winner of the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Supplied/Matthew (via Flickr)

Travel & Tourism

Olicana Park – The log cabins near Manchester that capture apres-ski magic all year round

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

Roaring fires, bubbling hot tubs, stunning views, and even pairs of skis strapped to the walls – but this isn’t the French alps… it’s Yorkshire. 

Olicana Park is a beautiful holiday park right on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, just an hour’s drive from Greater Manchester.

Here, scattered around the banks of the River Wharfe, you’ll find a collection of luxury wooden cabins, traditional cottages, and classic static caravans.

But for us, it really is all about those cabins, which capture all the best bits of the apres-ski culture loved by snow-worshippers, all year round.

In winter, you can whack on your own log burger and cosy up on the sofas with a glass of red wine and a good book, while in summer you can throw open the bi-fold doors and sit out with a cocktail on your own gigantic roof terrace.

Each cabin has its own theme that plays in around the tasteful decor, which usually involves incredible wooden beams and stone floors.

The one our friends at The Hoot stayed in had an apres-ski theme, from the subtle (vintage wooden skis and piste markers used as wall art) to the clever (an old chair lift that had been turned into patio furniture).

The luxury apres-ski cabin at Olicana Park
The luxury apres-ski cabin at Olicana Park
A sauna inside the cabin
A sauna inside the cabin
The view from your own terrace
The view from your own terrace

There’s a huge hot tub perched on your own private decking too, where you can soak in the warm water while watching the river burble past at the end of your own driveway.

Upstairs in this particular cabin were two enormous double bedrooms with modern en suite bathrooms, one of which also had an enormous terrace attached with a view down to the river.

And then – wait for it – the cabin also came with its own sauna. Talk about luxury.

If you can’t tear yourself away from your own space, each cabin has a kitchen that’s perfectly kitted out with everything you need to whip up a tasty tea (or, if you’re like us, a cheese board for dinner).

Lunch dishes at Hamilton's the on-site restaurant at Olicana Park
Lunch dishes at Hamilton’s the on-site restaurant at Olicana Park
Breakfast at Hamilton's the on-site restaurant at Olicana Park
Breakfast at Hamilton’s the on-site restaurant at Olicana Park

But if you do venture out, there’s an on-site restaurant called Hamilton’s, where you can dig in to fresh salads, gyros, and burgers, and when you come back in the next morning you can feast on a menu of banging breakfasts and brunches.

Olicana Park actually used to be a traditional caravan park, but has been given some serious TLC since the new owners took over in 2016.

It was this team who decided to split the park into zones, with four cottages in one, five luxury cabins in another, and 29 static caravans in the third.

The cottages and cabins were all refurbished or constructed from scratch using British suppliers and local tradesmen.

The living rooms in an Olicana Park cabin. Credit: The Hoot Leeds
The living rooms in an Olicana Park cabin. Credit: The Hoot Leeds

It’s just a short stroll from Addingham village, and that’s only a short bus from the bustling town of Ilkley, which itself is only a short train ride from Leeds.

That means excellent pubs, restaurants and cafes within easy reach, as well as gorgeous countryside walks like a riverside amble to Bolton Abbey.

Surrounded by a plethora of long walks and country pubs, Olicana Park really is a perfect gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, and if you’re looking for something to kick off holiday season then we couldn’t recommend it more.

You can get 10% off your June holiday at Olicana Park with the code “THEHOOT”.

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Featured image: The Hoot Leeds

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