A new map featuring more than 50 Blossom hotspots across Greater Manchester, as well as walkable trails and ideas for no-cost ways to connect with nature this spring, has been created
Blossom on the Rochdale Canal(Image: National Trust /Annapurna Mellor)
If you’ve been out for a walk over the last week or so you’ll have spotted a change in the scenery. Beautiful blossom is coming into bloom as we finally transition from winter to spring.
To celebrate the season when blossom can be seen on the trees, Bloomtown festival is returning to Greater Manchester for a fourth year. It is part of the National Trust’s Festival of Blossom, made possible by funding from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The festival launches this weekend on Saturday (21 March) in Heaton Park from 11am to 3pm and runs until Sunday 31 May with bike rides, poetry walks, arts & crafts, storytelling and many more events taking place at National Trust sites and in parks and green spaces across Greater Manchester.
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To coincide with the events, a new updated map featuring more than 50 Blossom hotspots across Greater Manchester, walkable trails and ideas for no-cost ways to connect with nature this spring has been released to mark the occasion. You can view it online here or see the full list below.
Trees are beginning to blossom (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
The map includes walkable routes that will take you through a series of floral hotspots. Follow the Bloomtown Trail in Hulme and South Manchester, East Manchester, Salford, Manchester City Centre, Trafford, Rochdale and Stockport, or use the map to explore and create your own route.
The events at Heaton Park include a Pedal Party for children and families run by Bee Pedal Ready, Manchester’s women-led workshop empowering more people to repair and ride bikes. Families can bring their own bikes or borrow one for free to adorn with blossom and cycle through the park.
There is an optional dress code: ‘celebrating spring’ too. There will be bike rides for little ones (2-5 years old) and children (6-10 years old) accompanied by their families.
Aerial Drone Photos of Heaton Park, Manchester UK(Image: Getty Images)
Since the launch coincides with World Poetry Day, the National Trust has also organised a Stories in Bloom poetry walk through Heaton Park’s blooming trees and plants. After learning about the blossoms at each stop, attendees will be given a writing prompt by writing-in-nature guides Oak + Pen.
Other events and blossom hotspots will take place across green spaces in Greater Manchester and the National Trust sites including Castlefield Viaduct, Dunham Massey, Quarry Bank, Lyme Park, Speke Hall.
Beyond celebrating the beauty of blossom, the festival is part of the National Trust’s goal to end unequal access to nature in Greater Manchester. It draws attention to nature renewal that is happening locally and green spaces that may be small or tucked away out of sight.
Reading the Blossomtown Map at St Peter’s Square, Manchester, Greater Manchester(Image: ©National Trust Images/Paul Harris)
National Trust’s Senior Visitor Experience Officer, Beth Talbot said: “It’s about finding and noticing nature. There’s so much around us that you might not notice otherwise, small areas with plants and trees and pocket parks.
“People tell us, ‘I didn’t realise how many parks I can visit near my home’, Getting more people out there means that space is used, enjoyed and better cared for.”
In 2022 the National Trust transformed Castlefield Viaduct, a Victorian railways bridge in central Manchester out of use since 1969, into a sky garden and green corridor for nature to enter the city. During Bloomtown it will host events for visitors to get creative surrounded by blossoming fuji cherries, apple trees and spring flowers.
Blossom in Manchester city centre(Image: National Trust /Annapurna Mellor)
Laura Nash, Community Engagement Co-ordinator at Castlefield Viaduct, added: “As Blossom is starting to appear and the warmer weather is inviting people outdoors again it’s a good time to notice and connect with nature. We are working with various groups across Manchester doing activities such as flowerpot swaps, Hapa Zome, poetry, murals and planting seeds.”
The Viaduct is also the start and end point for a walkable trail though the city centre via fifteen blossom hotspots including Sackville Gardens, Cutting Room Square, Manchester Cathedral and St Peters Square.
You can collect a Bloomtown map for free at the launch event at Heaton Park on Saturday 21 March, from Castlefield Viaduct and other festival venues and hotspots, or view it online here.
All seven Bee Pedal Ready x Bloomtown bike rides can be found here, taking place in Heaton Park, Salford, Stockport, Trafford, Manchester, Rochdale and Thameside can be found here too.
The blossom hotspots
Castlefield Viaduct
Whitworth Street West
Rochdale Canal Lock 89
Rochdale Canal Lock 87
Sackville Gardens
Tariff Street
Thomas Street Pocket Park
Cutting Room Square
Angel Meadow
Sadler’s Yard
Manchester Cathedral
Parsonage Gardens
Manchester Art Gallery
St Peter’s Square
Deansgate Mews
St John’s Gardens
Science and Industry Museum
The Whitworth
University of Manchester Students’ Union
All Saint’s Park
Manchester Metropolitan University Birley Orchard
Hulme Community Garden Centre
Hulme Park
St George’s Park
Alexandra Park
Chorlton Park
Marie Louise Gardens
Fog Lane Park
Ladybarn Park
Platt Fields Park
Birchfields Park
Gartside Gardens
Ardwick Green
Mayfield Park
Philips Park
Queens Park
Ordsall Hall
Salford Quays
Peel Park
Bridgewater Community Garden
Dukes Drive
RHS Bridgewater
Blackleach Country Park
Clifton Country Park
Hullard Park
Victoria Park
Waterside Arts
Wythenshawe Park and Gardens
Heaton Park
Jubilee Park
Denehurst Park
Hare Hill Park
Hollywood Park
Wood Street
Viaduct Park
Stockroom
Vernon Park
