Manchester

The city is often described as the "Capital of the North" and is today a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. It is also regarded as the third best place to locate business in the UK and is also the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors.

It is claimed that Manchester was the world's first industrialised city and also played the central role during the Industrial Revolution. It was the international centre of textile manufacture and cotton spinning. During the 19th century, the city was given the name Cottonopolis denoting that the area was a metropolis of cotton mills. Manchester City Centre is now on a "tentative list" of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, due to its network of canals and mills that facilitated its development.

The city attracts a million of tourists every year.

Carlisle Castle and Carlisle Cathedral

Carlisle Castle is a pretty old castle!! A few famous guests visited this castle in it's time, including Mary Queen of Scots who was imprisoned here.
The Cathedral was founded in 1122 and has a spectacular stained glass window which dates later from the 14th-20th centuries. Sir Walter Scott got married here to his French bride.

Hadrian's Wall

It is located about 100 miles north of Manchester, and runs across the counties of Cumbria and Northumberland on what was once the England-Scotland border. It's around a 2½ hour drive up the M6 Motorway to Junction 43 (Carlisle) and then due east along the A69 trunk road which follows the Wall along it's entire length to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The author verifies it to be an easily achievable return day trip from Manchester.

Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester is a large museum which is devoted to the development of science, technology, and industry.

The Museum of Science & Industry has won many awards for its interactive, hands-on approach. One can look at Beyer Garratt locomotive or can walk through a perfect reconstruction of a 19th-century sewer! There are extensive displays on the theme of transport, power, sewerage and sanitation, textiles, communications and computing. Steam train rides are also there at the railway station pulled by a replica of a Planet Steam locomotive.

Lyme Park

This is a beautiful, 1,377-acre National Trust deer park with panoramic views over much of Manchester and the Peak District. The Elizabethan hall and its gardens were even featured in the BBC production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as Mr Darcy's residence. There are themed tours around the hall during the summer and a wonderfully old-fashioned coffee shop that serves cream teas at reasonable prices. Look to the top of the hill and you will also see Lyme Cage - a folly that is said to contain a secret underground passage running from Lyme to Bramall Hall.