Manchester

We headed to Manchester on Saturday and fitted in a visit to Howarth in Bronte Country on the way. It was very special to visit the Howarth Parsonage where the Bronte sisters lived for most of their tragic short lives and wrote their books. I loved both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre when I read them years ago. Sadly, I wasn't able to take photos inside as I would have loved to have shared the embroidered samplers and the embroidery bits and pieces, their painting boxes and especially the many examples of their writing, clothing and furniture.

The countryside near Howarth is just as I imagined it would be in the books.

We then headed to Manchester and had 3 days there checking out the sights. It was rainy on Sunday so we headed to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. This is in a group of buildings originally used for the cotton and other industries and they have some amazing displays there. I enjoyed the talk about the cotton industry and how the machines carded, spun the cotton and then wove the fabric.

There were lots of other machinery and transport on display too. It is an amazing museum for kids as there are so many interactive displays.

On Monday we visited the Tatton House gardens. The house was closed but the gardens were beautiful.

In the afternoon we went to the Imperial War Museum North which is an amazing building with some wonderful and very moving displays.

On Tuesday we went on the Manchester Ship Canal cruise, which was one of the reasons for coming to Manchester. It was very interesting and we travelled from Manchester to Liverpool through quite a few locks and under some amazing bridges that lifted up or swung away so we could pass through the canal. The history of this very industrial canal was very interesting.

We then spent a few hours in Liverpool, where the dock area had been made into a very lovely space for visitors with museums and shops all nearby. We then headed back to Manchester on the bus. It was a long day but very interesting.