One of my favourite places to visit as a child was Styal country park. We were National Trust kids and every weekend my parents would cart my sister and I off beyond the outskirts of Greater Manchester to reap the benefits of fresh air in our lungs and mud under our fingernails. Styal, with its leafy forests and sun-dappled paths winding over the River Bollin, had a certain magic.
A key feature of the park was the historic Quarry Bank mill. With red bricks, towering chimneys and functioning water wheel, it is one of the best surviving examples of an early textile mill, and it’s open to the public. I used to love running my hands over the polished wood of the machinery, reading placards about the Industrial Revolution, and marvelling at old pictures of cotton spinning.
