Trees, Flowers and Manchester City Centre Green Spaces Tour

Johnny James, Managing Editor
JJ.

Trees, Flowers and Manchester City Centre Green Spaces Tour at St Ann’s Square, City Centre 24 — 25 May 2025 Tickets from £20.00 — Book now

Beneath the glass and steel of modern Manchester, the city conceals a softer story: one of gardens grown from graveyards, viaducts re-wilded above railway lines, and canals carving silent paths between old mills and new towers.

Part of the Manchester Flower Festival and in collaboration with Manchester Accommodation BID, Jonathan Schofield leads two walking tours celebrating Manchester’s green heart.

These walking tours reveal the lesser-known layers of central Manchester and Salford: a network of pocket parks and regenerated spaces – many of them born not from planning, but from adaptation. Some are recent creations. Others have rich histories. All offer beauty, tranquillity, and insights into the city’s evolving landscape.

For a city 35 miles from the sea, there’s a surprising amount of water in Manchester. Rivers, yes – but it’s the miles of canal, cut deep into the urban fabric, that shape the city’s distinctive rhythm. These waterways weren’t ornamental; they were arteries of industry, built fast to meet urgent needs. Today, they offer a quieter counterpoint – tranquil echoes of the city’s restless past.

Whether it’s these ‘blue’ assets, historic green spaces or urban oases, each stop on the tours brings a new tale. And few are better placed to tell them than Jonathan Schofield, Manchester’s top walking tour provider and a registered Blue Badge Guide since 1996. Jonathan knows Manchester and Salford inside out, and the mix of information and entertainment he brings to his tours is pitch perfect.

Both tours – one on Saturday, one on Sunday – present something a little different. Saturday’s tour includes Parsonage Gardens, Glade of Light, Cathedral Gardens, and Angel Meadow. Sunday’s tour includes Parsonage Gardens, Lincoln Square, St John’s Gardens, Aviva Studios and Viaducts, and Deansgate Square. Both tours start and finish at St Ann’s Square, which will be a hive of very wholesome activity amid the Manchester Flower Festival.

While modern Manchester might be defined by glass, steel, and sharp lines, these tours reveal a softer side to the story – spaces shaped by history, renewal, and resilience, offering moments of calm in a city that never stops moving.

Looking for more walking tours in Manchester? Check out our full guide.

Trees, Flowers and Manchester City Centre Green Spaces Tour at St Ann’s Square, City Centre 24 — 25 May 2025 Tickets from £20.00 Book now

Performances

Date
Time
Session Features
24 May 2025
1:00pm — 3:00pm
25 May 2025
11:00am — 1:00pm

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

What's on at St Ann’s Square

Where to go near Trees, Flowers and Manchester City Centre Green Spaces Tour

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The Royal Exchange is one of the most celebrated theatres in the country, highly regarded for both new writing and its take on the classics.

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The Remedy Kitchen is a Manchester restaurant dedicated to healthy eating, with the goal to detox the body and mind.

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Cross Street Chapel

Located in the midst of Deansgate, this community chapel regularly hosts cultural events, socials and activities. Check out their website for info and upcoming performances.

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Bloom Cafe is a stunning cafe based on Deansgate in Manchester, serving up an array of hot and cold drinks, including a range of CBD options.

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Lunya Manchester

Lunya is a Spanish and Catalan deli and restaurant in Manchester’s stunning Barton Arcade. The food is reliably fresh and the staff both charming and incredibly knowledgable.

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