The Big Fish

Avro Heritage Museum

Woodford · 2.5 miles

The Avro Heritage Museum occupies the former fire-station of Woodford Aerodrome in Woodford, Greater Manchester, England. Set on the site of the historic aerodrome, the museum opened to the public on 13 November 2015 after a redevelopment funded by BAE as part of the aerodrome’s sale for redevelopment. The conversion was carried out by Conlon Construction together with Cassidy + Ashton, following planning approval granted on 20 May 2014 and construction that began in August of that year. The new building provides roughly 11,700 sq ft of space, about 70 % larger than the earlier Avro Heritage Centre that had been housed in the personnel block and operated by appointment only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Inside, visitors can explore an exhibition hall and a dedicated gallery that showcase the Avro Heritage Trust’s collection of more than 30,000 artefacts related to aircraft development. The display includes a series of murals formerly situated in the employee restaurant at Woodford. Supporting facilities comprise a café, reading rooms and classrooms, allowing for both casual visits and organised educational activities. The museum’s location within the former aerodrome complex makes it a focal point for those interested in the region’s aviation legacy, and recent planning approval in January 2026 confirms that an expansion is forthcoming. Access is via the surrounding Woodford area, with the nearest town identified as Woodford on OpenStreetMap. Admission details, opening hours and transport links are not specified in the source material.

Hat Works

Stockport · 5.6 miles

Visitors to Stockport can explore the story of the town’s former hat-making heyday at a museum housed in a nineteenth-century mill. Set on Wellington Road South, the site lies between the town centre and Stockport railway station and is listed at Grade II. The museum, which opened in 2000, occupies Wellington Mill, an early fire-proof cotton-spinning mill erected in 1830–31 before being converted to a hat works in the 1890s. Exhibits trace the development of local hat production, from manual craft to mechanised industry, and include examples of the equipment once used in the trade. The mill’s origins lie with Thomas Marsland, whose family built a large calico-printing operation in the early nineteenth century. After a series of partnerships and leases, the building passed to the Ward Brothers, a hatting firm, in 1895 and remained part of the hat industry into the 1930s. The structure retains its 200-foot chimney added in 1860 and reflects the broader industrial growth that made Stockport a centre for silk, cotton and later headwear. Earlier, smaller displays of hatting artefacts were shown in Stockport Museum and the former Battersby hat factory before the dedicated venue opened. Admission to the museum is free, and the site is reachable on foot or by public transport from the town’s main station. No on-site parking is mentioned, but the location on the A6 provides easy road access. As a local museum, it offers insight into the region’s textile heritage without charge.

Stockport Air Raid Shelters

Stockport · 5.6 miles

A network of underground air-raid shelters runs for almost a mile beneath Stockport, about six miles south of Manchester, and was excavated in red sandstone to provide refuge for civilians during the Second World War. Work began in September 1938 and the first tunnel opened on 28 October 1939, although the town did not experience bombing until 11 October 1940. Four separate shelter systems were created, the smallest designed for roughly 2 000 occupants and the largest originally for 3 850, later expanded to accommodate up to 6 500 people. After the war the tunnels were sealed in 1948, but the largest section has been accessible to visitors as part of the town’s museum service since 1996. Among the individual sites, the Brinksway shelter in Edgeley was built over the 17th-century Brinksway Caves and could hold 1 085 bunks and seats for 1 735 people. The Chestergate shelter, often referred to as the “Chestergate Hotel” because of its chemical toilets, electric lighting and a canteen, originally housed 3 850 users before an expansion doubled its capacity. It was formally opened by the Mayoress on 28 October 1939 and now operates as a museum, with admission charges applied and opening times listed on the venue’s information page. The Dodge Hill shelter in Heaton Norris was sized for around 2 000 people and has been the focus of a few emergency incidents in recent years. Visitors can reach the site from Stockport town centre; the museum is managed by the local council’s museum service. Admission is not free, and the current opening schedule is published online, allowing planning of a visit to explore the historic tunnels and their wartime fittings.

Christ Church

Heaton Norris · 5.6 miles

Ruined church of which only the steeple survives. Gutted by fire in the 1970s.

Walkden Gardens

Sale Moor · 6.8 miles

Walkden Gardens is a public green space in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. The gardens are named after Harry Walkden on whose death in 1949 his plant nursery passed to Sale Borough Council and provides the site for the gardens. The gardens are owned by Trafford Council and The Friends of Walkden Gardens help maintain and develop the gardens. A notable feature of the gardens is the dovecote moved there from the grounds of the now demolished Sale Old Hall.

Sale Water Park

Sale Moor · 7.5 miles

A 152-acre stretch of parkland, incorporating a 52-acre artificial lake, lies in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford between Sale and Stretford. The site, opened in 1979 and owned by Trafford Council, occupies a green-belt corridor alongside the River Mersey and the M60 motorway. The lake originated from a 1970s gravel pit dug for material used to raise the motorway embankment; the pit reaches about 115 feet deep, making the water body roughly 90 feet deep in places. The surrounding land was once part of the Sale Old Hall estate, whose lodge now serves as the clubhouse for Sale Golf Club and whose dovecote has been restored in nearby Walkden Gardens. In the north-eastern sector of the park, Broad Ees Dole provides a managed wetland that supports a variety of wading birds. Established in the 1980s and officially opened in 1987, the area’s water levels are altered seasonally to maintain mud flats for species such as common snipe, little ringed plovers, redshank and sandpipers. The site gained Local Nature Reserve status in 2003, and after an invasive swamp stonecrop outbreak, extensive soil removal and herbicide treatment were carried out in 2005. An orchid meadow now hosts heath-spotted orchids, while smooth and great crested newts breed in the marsh. The Dole has no footpaths, but wildlife can be observed from surrounding trails. Recreational use centres on the lake’s water-sports facilities. Trafford Water Sports Centre, reopened under Peak Education, offers windsurfing, dinghy sailing, kayaking and two on-site restaurants. The Sale Water Ski Club also operates from the lake, and anglers can fish for carp, pike, perch, roach, eel and catfish under licences managed by the Sale Waterpark Angling Group. The park forms part of the local flood-defence system, with a sluice gate that can store excess Mersey water when river levels rise, a function overseen by the Environment Agency.