It may have taken a while but spring is finally delivering with the sunny weather this week. With balmy days ahead it’s time to shed the layers, pop on some sunglasses and venture outside.
Throughout Greater Manchester are some stunning parks and gardens to visit when the sun is out, made especially beautiful at this time of year when the flowers are in full bloom. Fletcher Moss Botanical gardens in Didsbury is probably one of the most well-known, yet there’s another horticultural gem hidden right by it.
Tucked between Ye Olde Cock Inn and The Didsbury on Stenner Lane is Parsonage Gardens, a more compact version of its neighbour. The entrance to the garden is rather grand and a little bit foreboding, with a stone archway topped with a carving of an eagle.
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Unlike other parks and gardens where you can peek through wrought iron fences, the Parsonage Gardens is hidden behind high walls - if you didn’t know it was there you could easily walk past it. However, if you pass through the stone arch and you’ll discover a tranquil oasis with multicoloured flower beds, towering trees and velvety, grass lawns.
As the name suggests, at the heart of the gardens is The Old Parsonage, a Grade II listed building with sits next to the original village green of Didsbury. It was the former home of Alderman Fletcher Moss who left the building and gardens to the citizens of Manchester in 1919, he had lived in the house with his parents and bought the house in 1885.
It’s a gorgeous building, partially hidden behind large palms - it could easily double for a location abroad on a sunny day. Today the building is run by the Didsbury Parsonage Trust and can be used for weddings, exhibitions and as a community space.
Paths weave past different flower beds through the garden leading to a formal quad lined with benches where you can relax and watch the world go by. At the far end is a green house with a selection of alpine plants growing within.
The garden has won various awards in the past, including a gold in the RHS North West in Bloom - and its easy to see why with the impressive range of blooms on display. It’s a tranquil place which feels a million miles away from the buzz of Didsbury's high street.
Hidden in the garden are some quirky features, too. Beneath the yew tree are the graves belonging to Fletcher Moss’ dogs, which you can still see today.
Meanwhile the eagle gate at the garden entrance actually started life elsewhere. It was originally from the Spread Eagle pub in Corporation Street in Manchester, which was owned by the Moss family. Fletcher Moss bought it for the sum of £10 when the pub was demolished and had it installed at the Parsonage.
The Parsonage Gardens are run by the Friends of Fletcher Moss Park. Parsonage Gardens, Stenner Lane, M202RQ. There is parking on Millgate Lane with two disabled spaces (M20 2SD) and Stenner Lane (M202RQ - access to car park by driving down Ford Lane). The gardens are open from dawn until dusk every day.
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