Did you know that if you take a short jaunt down the A34, you can end up in Italy, China and Egypt at the same time? If you’re looking for a beautiful day out for the whole family, you can explore different parts of the world through horticulture less than 30 miles from Manchester city centre.
Biddulph Grange Garden, just over the Cheshire border in the Staffordshire Moorlands, is a Victorian garden created by James Bateman for his collection of plants from around the world.
Originally established in 1840, the National Trust site offers a stunning dahlia walk this time of year, and is home to the oldest surviving golden larch in Britain, brought over from China in the 1850s.
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You enter the gardens along the side of the former Orthopaedic Hospital, which now houses the tea rooms and a number of apartments. You can view the grand building from many different vantage points throughout the gardens, but my favourite is from the top of the tower at the end of the dahlia walk.
Biddulph Grange Garden is a nature-lovers paradise, with a large koi pond brimming with beautiful fish and home to a number of interesting water birds. Make your way along the path and you’ll find yourself in the Himalayan glen skipping over stepping stones and venturing through dark caves.
Visitors can find the Chinese garden through one such cave, which brings you out on a beautiful platform overlooking the pond and the bridge that crosses it. You’ll want to see if you can spot the golden ox, too, from which sunlight bounces in the golden hour.
The Grade I listed gardens really do take you on an ‘around the world in 80 minutes’ style trip, with some really fascinating plants and displays, like a Giant Redwood with furry bark.
But one of the most breathtaking parts of Biddulph Grange Garden is the Dahlia Walk, which blooms in August and throughout the Autumn months. It’s the most spectacular sight to see rows and rows of these mathematically mesmerising blooms that line pristinely trimmed yew hedges. It takes ten months of the year for the site's gardeners to create this display, which finishes flowering at the end of October.
If you wander up the walk and into the ‘castle’ and look down over towards the former hospital it makes for the perfect Instagram photo through the archway.
Once you’ve walked the mile up Wellingtonia Avenue, immersed yourself in the woodland (complete with children’s obstacle course), you can look over towards the Biddulph Grange Country Park - which is free to enter, and along the same stretch of road if you want to explore the grounds further.
On the way back, potter around the Cheshire Cottage and try out some ‘forest bathing’ before exploring the Geological Gallery to discover Bateman’s interest in rocks and fossils.
Don’t forget to visit Egypt, too, complete with a mock tomb and four stone sphinxes. This part of the garden is dominated by a grand temple doorway in stone with the top of a pyramid.
At the heart of the temple, down a gloomy passageway, there’s a small chamber lit by red light from a stained-glass panel above. Here sits the Egyptian deity Thoth, the god of botany, created by the English sculptor and naturalist, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins.
The tea rooms do an amazing hot chocolate, with homemade cakes that are a real treat to fuel up on after soaking up the atmosphere at the Victorian attraction.
Before you leave, be sure to check out their second hand book shop, and even donate a book or two, or pick up your own gardening gloves from the gift shop after being inspired by their amazing displays.
If you can’t find it, ask to see the kitchen garden, which is near to the entrance, where you can get some inspiration on what to grow in your own veg patch at home. You can even buy plants grown in their nursery to continue to nourish and love at home - their monkey puzzle trees (found near the Koi pond) are always a popular choice.
The garden is currently open 10am to 5.30pm in the week, or until 4.30 on weekends. Adult tickets are priced at £11 while children cost £5.50 - but there are family packages also available. You can book your tickets online via the National Trust website here.
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