Yahoo News The hidden Greater Manchester park with ‘gardens within gardens’ to visit on a sunny day
Across Greater Manchester are dozens of amazing parks, gardens and green spaces which are just waiting to be explored. While some are always on your radar - think Heaton Park or Fletcher Moss - there are others you might not have heard of.
One of these hidden gems is Walkden Gardens, a small but perfectly formed green oasis located off Marsland Road in Sale. The gardens are made up of different ‘rooms’, each containing different features, essentially creating ‘gardens within gardens’.
Perhaps its most striking feature is the wisteria arch, stretching over 70ft long, providing a spectacular covered walkway which allows you to be immersed in nature. Interestingly, the garden also boasts a ‘Theatre Lawn’ which is used for events, including performances of plays such as Macbeth and a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
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There’s the Fuchsia Garden, with neat clipped box hedging, the Conifer Garden and the Dovecote garden, which includes the romantic-looking Dovecote structure. It originally stood within the grounds of Sale Old Hall but when it was demolished in the 1920s the Dovecote remained, and it was eventually moved and rebuilt at Walkden Gardens following the widening of the M60.
Another of the ‘rooms’ is the Japanese Garden, which the Japanese Garden Society helps maintain. It’s divided into three areas, separated by bamboo screens and archways, and includes a dry landscape garden with rocks and gravel representing islands and a lake.
Owned by Trafford Council, who maintain the park alongside the Friends Group, made up of volunteers, Walkden Gardens is named after Harry Walkden, who owned a plant nursery at the current site. The gardens themselves were inspired by the well-known 20th century garden at Hidcote Manor in Gloucester.
In the summer the gardens are open from 9am until 7.30pm (they are locked at night so make sure you double check the opening times before you enter). The entrance to the free car park is on Derbyshire Road, there are also bus stops on Marsland Road. Walkden Gardens is 15 minutes’ walk from Brooklands Metrolink station.
