Cheshire Cycleway
Biddulph Grange Garden, Biddulph
Biddulph Grange Garden, Grange Road, Biddulph, Staffordshire, ST8 7SD
Tel: 01782 517999
Not quite in Cheshire, but near enough for Cycleway cyclists to make a detour.
This 15-acre garden is Victorian, but never dull. Go round the world here - from Italy to Egypt, China to a Scottish glen, and back to Cheshire - along intriguing paths and through dark tunnels, with surprises around every corner.
Opening times (2008):
Garden: 1 Mar - 9 Mar 08, 11.00-16.00, Sat-Sun. 15 Mar - 2 Nov 08, 11.00-17.00, Wed-Sun (incl Good Friday and bank holidays).
Tea-room: 17 Mar - 28 Oct 07, 11.30-17.30, Wed-Sun. 3 Nov - 16 Dec 07, 11.00-15.00, Sat-Sun.
Also open bank holiday Mondays.
Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Closes at dusk if earlier.
Tea-room: last orders 17.00; winter menu in Nov & Dec.
Facilities:
Cafe.
Admission fee (2008):
Adult £6.40, child £3.20.
From the Cheshire Cycleway:
The cycleway route passes about 4-5 miles to the west of the gardens. Where the cycleway skirts Congleton, look for regional cycle route 73 that leads to the town centre. Walk through the pedestrianised centre, cycle straight on along Lawton Street, and straight over the traffic lights into Bromley Road, to connect with the National Cycle Route 55 that leads to the traffic-free Biddulph Valley Way (an ex-railway line). A leaflet produced the Congleton Cycling Campaignshows the routes clearly.
Leave the ex-railway line at the second lane that you come across (there's an obvious ex-railway cottage here), turn left onto the lane, right onto the main road, and follow this around a double bend leading to Grange Rd on your left. The gardens' entrance is on your right, with the country park (created from the grounds of Biddulph Grange) further along on the right.
Find this place marked in the centre of this map.