Art & Culture

Popular Manchester attraction offering FREE entry to anyone who shares a name with these England players

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 17th June 2026

A popular Manchester attraction is offering people the chance to visit for free this summer… but only if they have certain names.

That’s right – Museum of Illusions is giving football fans an extra reason to celebrate every goal this summer, as the city centre attraction is offering free entry to anyone whose first name matches that of a Three Lions player that scores in an England fixture.

So if Harry Kane scores, all Harrys are in. If Jude Bellingham gets on the scoresheet, Judes can claim a free ticket. The same goes for Anthony, Ollie, or any other England player who bags a goal as the tournament foes on, meaning thousands more fans will be able to have their minds blown and let their imaginations run wild this summer.

The offer will run from tomorrow (Thursday 18 June) until 18 July – with the list of eligible names growing every time an England player finds the back of the net.

To claim their free ticket, visitors simply need to show valid photo ID at the admissions desk confirming their first name matches that of a confirmed England goalscorer.

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Located on Market Street at the heart of the city centre, Museum of Illusions features more than 50 interactive exhibits designed to challenge perception and trick the senses.

Proving to be hugely popular since opening its doors back in 2024, visitors to Museum of Illusions can explore gravity-defying rooms, optical illusions, immersive installations, and holograms that create unforgettable photo opportunities for families and friends (and football fans) alike.

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Free entry to Museum of Illusions in Manchester will be granted until 18 July 2026, and you can find out more info and opening times before you visit here.

Featured Image – Supplied

Art & Culture

Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant David Bowie: You're Not Alone

Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.

Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.

Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself. 

You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.

Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.

Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.

The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.

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David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is being made in close collaboration with, and has been authorised by, the David Bowie Estate.

It’ll run at Aviva Studios from 8 December 2026 through to 10 January 2027.

Featured Image – Supplied

Art & Culture

You can pick your own fresh fruit from the fields of a family-run farm near Manchester this summer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Strawberry picking at Kenyon Hall Farm

Just over the border into Warrington, you’ll find the perfect place to pick your own fresh fruit this summer.

We’re talking miles and miles (and miles) of strawberries.

This is Kenyon Hall Farm – a farm in Croft that has been worked by the same family since around 1500, and although it was originally considered a ‘mixed farm’, it has gone from strength to strength over the years, transforming from a traditional agricultural property into one of the UK’s top award-winning farm shops and tourism destinations.

Current owners Tod and Barbara took over the farm in 1978, and the couple, alongside their two sons James and Simon, as well as their partners and dozens of other full-time and seasonal staff, have turned it into a place that families travel from far and wide to visit.

Popular for its ever-expanding pumpkin patch experience in the autumn, its Easter egg hunts in the spring, and its on-site cafe and farm shop, Kenyon Hall Farm is no longer the ‘sleepy’ arable farm that Tod and Barbara once inherited, it’s now a cultural gem in the Croft community that exceeds 500-acres.

It’s pick-your-own strawberry season at Kenyon Hall Farm / Credit: The Manc Group

But there’s one stunning ‘season’ at Kenyon Hall Farm that we just have to shout about… and that’s strawberry season.

Or, should we say, pick-your-own fresh fruit season instead, as not only are there miles and miles of strawberry fields to roam free in – which open from the start of summer in June – but as the season goes on, there’s also raspberries, blackcurrants, potatoes, onions, and loads more to choose from too.

Strawberries have been growing at Kenyon Hall Farm for nearly 50 years now, and used to be its main attraction, often being inundated with locals when it opened for just six-weeks a year – but then, back 2019, they decided to introduce special strawberry growing tunnels, meaning they could extend opening times until the end of August, all while making the experience less weather-dependent.

When 2020 rolled around and the COVID-19 pandemic hit, ticketing was introduced in order to keep everyone safe and help staff manage visitor demand once the fruit fields reopened.

But as this proved to work so well, it’s a system that has remained in place ever since.

This means that, especially for strawberry picking, you need to head online and book your ticket in advance, as staff really don’t want anyone to leave disappointed if they have to turn people away.

There’s so much seasonal produce in the on-site cafe and farm shop too / Credit: The Manc Group

And once you’re done frolicking in the fruit fields, you can then head into the cafe afterwards to try some seasonal specials like cream teas with homemade strawberry jam, or french toast with strawberry compote and Biscoff crumb, all washed down with strawberry matchas made with homemade syrup.

Make sure to pop into the farm shop before you leave too and stock up on all the seasonal produce and gifts you could ever need – including homemade strawberry jams, gins, and more.

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Strawberry season has now started at Kenyon Hall Farm, and you can book your tickets online for £5.95 – £6.95 per person, with spaces released up to 24–48 hours ahead of time.

Included in your ticket price is a punnet to fill, and anything else you pick is paid for by weight on the way out.

Find out more and book your tickets here.

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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