We’re spoiled for choice with great parks in the city, each with its own unique personality. Whether it’s the vast and sprawling Heaton Park or the wild botanical gardens at Fletcher Moss in Didsbury, there’s a park to suit your mood.
There’s also plenty of great places to eat too, whether you just need a brew and a slice of cake, or something a bit more substantial. Here are some of the best spots to indulge in some relaxed Manchester parklife…
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Caffeine and Co at Longford Park
Run by the team behind the excellent Blanchflower, the cafe at Longford Park is the definition of a hidden gem. Tucked into the trees, with a shaded tree canopy to the side and a terrace area at the front, it’s one of the best cafes in the city, let alone park cafes. The toasties, made with proper sourdough, are truly next level, ditto the coffee, the cakes, the soups and the sandwiches.
Longford Park Bungalow, Stretford, Manchester M32 8DA
Whitworth Gallery Café
On the edge of Whitworth Park, the Whitworth Gallery’s café, with its floor to ceiling windows, has one of the best views of any café in town. Not to mention proximity to dazzling works of art. It does excellent sandwiches and hearty one-bowl dishes, fresh seasonal salads and a cracking breakfast barm too.
Oxford Rd, Manchester M15 6ER
The Stables at Heaton Park
Prestwich’s sprawling Heaton Park has a fine, bustling café in The Stables, running out of its old stable buildings between Heaton Hall and the animal centre. Sausage rolls, hot dogs, homemade cakes and barista coffee, with an onus placed on fair trade ingredients like local honey and ethically-minded sustainability.
The Stables, Heaton Park, Manchester M25 2SW
The Lakeside Café at Heaton Park
As well as the Stables, Heaton Park also has the stunning Lakeside Café too, with views across the water. It’s perhaps best known for its lakeside domes, however. You can reserve the domes for two hour slots, and then order in from the café menu - everything from full breakfasts to burgers and toasties - or take in a sumptuous afternoon tea overlooking the lake in the glass and woods beyond.
Middleton Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 2SW
The Alpine Tea Room at Fletcher Moss
The botanical gardens at Fletcher Moss are a big draw, but so is this excellent café. Working out of two semi-permanent vans, festooned with lights (particularly captivating in the autumn and winter), the Alpine Tea Room does great homemade cakes and ice cream, as well as a great sandwiches and mezzes, all in an enviable location.
The Croft, Fletcher Moss Park, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2SW
Fog Lane Park Café
This social enterprise and community café is a belter. There are regular art clubs during half term times and other community events, and that’s without even mentioning the fantastic food. Superb pastries are on tap from the Cheshire Bakehouse (sausage rolls, Moroccan lamb, sweet potato), sodas from Steep, Indian-inspired pies from Patel’s Pies and cakes and pastries from the legendary Longbois in Levenshulme.
Fog Lane Park, 133b Fog Lane, Manchester M20
Lakeside Café at Boggart Hole Clough
With its beautiful view over the boating lake at Boggart Hole Clough, the Lakeside Café is famed - and rightly so - for its 'belly busting breakfast', which weighs in at a reasonable £8 for every breakfast item under the sun. It also caters for more modest appetites, of course, with a range of sandwiches, toasties and cakes, and puts on brilliant events for the local community too, from crafting to free fishing coaching.
Boggart Hole Clough, Manchester M9 7DF
Queen’s Park Cafe, Bolton
Set in the beautiful Victorian surroundings of Queen’s Park, right in the centre of Bolton, the Queen’s Park Cafe has breakfast buns crammed with bacon and sausage patties, plant-based katsu burgers, gooey toasties, giant hot dogs and sourdough naan breads stuffed with crispy onion bhajis. ‘Beloved by Bolton’ is emblazoned on the menu, and they’re not wrong. This is a great spot to relax with a brew or a lavish hot chocolate after walk.
Queen's Park, Park Road, Bolton BL1 4RU
The Boathouse at Alexandra Park, Oldham
Set on the edge of the serene lake in Oldham’s Alexandra Park, the Boathouse Cafe is a tranquil spot to start or finish a wander around this classic example of a Victorian town park (or perhaps after a set or two of tennis). There are fresh, homemade soups, all-day breakfasts, pastries or a slab of cheese and onion pie at lunchtime (as well as a full halal menu), and for the sunny days, ice cream by the scoopful.
The Park, Grasscroft, Oldham OL4 4ES
