Best Things To Do in Macclesfield On Your Vacation To England

Macclesfield is a market town filled with beautiful Georgian factories, homes, inns, churches, and chapels. Experience plenty of scenic walks and enjoy the breathtaking landscape just outside the Peak District. Visit the Macclesfield Silk Museum, and discover a working silk mill’s wonders. Capesthorne House, Teggs Nose Country Park, and Adlington House are other attractions. Macclesfield is built on a steep hillside with a pretty cobblestone town centre. Fight up the 108 Stairs to the Market Place, watched over by a Neoclassical Georgian town hall and a Gothic church filled with Renaissance alabaster monuments. Check out the best things to do in Macclesfield on your vacation to the United Kingdom and choose the one you want to experience!

St.Peter’s Church, Prestbury

Firstly, this is one of the top things to do in Macclesfield. This 13th-century church is the fourth church on this site, about a mile north of Macclesfield. Yet what is odd is that there is still the third altar, amid the trees of the medieval yew. The churchyard features a Norman Romanesque chapel dating back to the 12th century, with semi-circular door and window railings, and weathered but clear tympanum relief and lozenge designs in the archivolts.

The central church is mainly in the 13th century Early English Gothic style, with a Perpendicular tower that arrived in the 15th century. Look in the nave for the artwork above the columns, created in 1719, as well as the early 17th-century Jacobean pulpit. The south aisle piscina of the 14th century and the ledger stone of the 15th century to Reginald Legh, who worked on the church tower and porch, are both beautiful.

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Riverside Park

Riverside Park is north of town centre along the Bollin River and merges with West Park. While surrounded by the city, Riverside Park feels rural and has two large woodland plots, along with a community orchard, butterfly meadow and wildflower meadow. This last field is grazed by docile longhorn cattle helping to protect native species of grass. You may spend an hour or so ambling down these routes, but Riverside Park is also the trailhead for the Bollin Valley Way, a 25-mile river-side trail terminating at the Partington Manchester Ship Canal. I’m sure you would have marked this on your things to do in Macclesfield list!

Hare Hill

Although the Hare Hill Hall country house doesn’t belong publically, the National Trust cares for the grounds. The highlight here is the walled garden, an early summer explosion of colour as the rhododendrons and azaleas explode into flowers. The types of rose, iris, lupin, phlox and echinacea are also rare. Paths branch off into the forests and in summer you can relax for a picnic by the park’s lake in a very magnificent setting. Finally, a walking path also leads to the Alderley Bottom, a red sandstone escarpment still owned by the National Trust and towering for awe-inspiring views to over 200 metres. No list should miss out on Hare hill. Most visitors love to spend time with their loved ones here and make it their favourite among the things to do in Macclesfield.

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The Peak District

There’s no better town than Macclesfield if you want convenient access to the west side of the Peak District National Park. The Peak District is the oldest national park in the United Kingdom, established in 1951 and with varied landscapes. The outlying moors of the gritstone Dark Hill, traversed by the treacherous A537, regarded as the most dangerous road in England, are on the Macclesfield side so go cautiously. You can travel to Shining Tor in less than ten minutes for a climb to a height of 560 metres, where you can see the remote radio telescopes at Jodrell Bank. Cats Tor is at 520 meters on the same ridge just a little farther east, which is not a difficult climb as there is a convenient car park just 60 meters underneath.

108 Steps

A steep, dramatic staircase that has been a landmark for Macclesfield is leading up from the train station to St Michael’s Church and the Market Place. Starting from the 17th century at the latest, the steps preceded this path and the cobblestones repaved in 2014 after a citizens drive. So, don’t miss out to visit the 108 steps as its a must on your things to do in Macclesfield list.

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White Nancy

Park the car for a walk up Kerridge Hill in Bollington, three miles north of Macclesfield, to see this strange device. White Nancy, set 280 meters above sea level, marks ordnance erected by mapping surveyors in 1815. Made of sandstone rubble, this memorial whitewashed completely. Every now and then the white walls become a painting canvas: once, painted with The Fall singer Mark E. Smith ‘s face after he passed away in 2018, and before that, a bee, in solidarity with Manchester after the bombing in 2017. The other aim of the walk is to explore the Cheshire Plains, reaching so far as the southward Shropshire Hills and the westward North Wales Mountains.

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Treacle Market

Macclesfield’s Marketplace last Sunday of the month, Old Butter Market and St Michael’s Churchyard host more than 160 Treacle Market stalls. Started in 2010, this has taken over from the discontinued weekly market and mainly intended for antiques, vintage clothes and arts and crafts, but also has plenty of food and drink stalls. You’ll typically find vendors selling things like sewing wool, antique beauty boxes and picture frames, as well as local cheese, preserves, hand-raised cookies and freshly pressed apple juice glass bottles.

There’s no lack of tenting street food stalls for new soups, curry and homemade paella for lunch. The staircase has lined brick walls and takes you past some beautiful old buildings, and if you need to take a break there are beautiful views of the city. Who wouldn’t love to shop? So, make space on your itinerary to get some good shopping done as this is definitely one of the best things to do in Macclesfield.

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West Park

Macclesfield’s working men came together to collect money for this park close to the city centre. West Park was built in 1854 and offered workers with up to 70 hours of work a week in the factories with an oasis of greenery. It’s now a well-appointed urban space with a pool, skate park and ornamental florid gardens.

Excited to pack your bags already? Reasons outnumbered for you to kick-start planning your itinerary with the top things to do in Macclesfield. Finding this guide useful? Check some of the best holiday packages with Pickyourtrail and book your dream vacation! Also, feel free to leave a Whatsapp inquiry for any queries.