Chester & Cheshire: Ultimate Guide - Winter/Spring Edition

IMAGES
BELOW TOP: TATTON PARK /
BELOW BOTTOM: BEESTON
CASTLE’S NEW ROUNDHOUSE
IMAGES
LEFT: LUMEN /
BELOW: BLUEDOT
© Tatton Park
© Peter Robinson
Cheshire:
Where Science
Meets Nature
Tatton Park (tattonpark.org.uk) will smooth your
way to its multiple attractions when it opens a
new welcome centre for visitors in 2020. After
all, it’s important to get your bearings if you’re
going to check out the 18th-century mansion,
historic working farm, medieval Old Hall, glorious
gardens and vast parkland. Improved facilities in
the stableyard, where the shops and restaurants
are located, will follow, with plans to make it
the go-to place for live entertainment, new
exhibitions and events.
Travel back in time 4,000 years at Beeston
Castle’s new Roundhouse. The reconstruction
of this Bronze Age dwelling has been a labour of
love for English Heritage and a team of more than
60 volunteers, who’ve amassed archaeological
evidence and even used authentic tools and
building methods. People lived on this rocky
crag high above the plain long before the first
stone was laid for the medieval castle we’re so
familiar with on the skyline. The first traces of
this thatched, wattle-and-daub structure were
first uncovered in the 1970s, along with axes and
knives from the time, revealing it was a welldefended
metalworking centre.
It’s been a bumper year for
Cheshire: Where Science
Meets Nature (visitcheshire.
com/science-meets-nature),
a new initiative promoting
the county’s rich natural and
scientific assets through
arts and culture. A trio of
online themed itineraries,
with suggestions for days
out and short breaks, have
inspired many – locals and
those from further afield – to
sample the county’s fantastic
events and attractions.
Pick of the winter and
early-spring programme
includes LUMEN – Crewe’s
Night of Lights, a thrilling
evening of illuminated
street performances and
son et lumière displays
on 29 November. Artist
Sven Werner’s audiovisual
dreamscape, Poulson Arc
Dream Radio, remains
available to experience at
Storyhouse in Chester until
17 May.
The Lost Words, a new
children’s trail featuring
art installations, continues
at Dunham Massey until 3
April, before moving on to
Quarry Bank from 6 April.
Based on the spellbook
of the same name, The
Lost Words is all about
youngsters reclaiming a
vanishing natural vocabulary,
as words such as ‘chat room’
are better understood than
‘conkers’.
The new year will see more
events roll out, too,
including a new summer
programme of performances
at the Grosvenor Park
Open-Air Theatre.
Meanwhile, bookings are
already open for returning
favourites, such as the
international festival of
music, science and cosmic
culture, bluedot, at Jodrell
Bank in July, and the
creative family romp, Just
So, at Rode Hall in August.
08