Trees, Flowers and Manchester City Centre Green Spaces Tour

Beneath the glass and steel of modern Manchester, the city conceals a softer story: one of gardens grown from graveyards, viaducts gone green, 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.

But it’s not all about green spaces. 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.