RHS Tatton Show

Tomorrow sees the start of the five day long RHS Show at Tatton Park near Knutsford. Tatton is renowned as the biggest and best horticultural show in the North, with the country’s brightest gardener designers showing of their talents. Amongst the planned show gardens this year are Tony Heyward’s abstract jewelled landscape inspired by the British coastline and Tony Smith’s intriguingly titled Aliens & Lettuce. Gardens designed by Huggo Bugg, Will Quarmby and Olivia Stewart will determine the first RHS Young Designer of the Year award.


Aside from the show gardens Tatton will host the prestigious Eurofleurs competition, where twelve of Europe’s best young florists will compete for the award, good luck to Britain’s competitor Joe Massie. Long with more than 200 exhibitors to keep shoppers happy, Fortnum and Mason will be on hand at the show to provide high class refreshments. If you can’t make it to the show BBC 2 will be covering the highlights from Tatton on Thursday at 7.30pm and Friday at 8pm.

Morris face big challenge at Edgewater Park

House-builder Morris faces a big challenge if their Edgewater Park development is to live up to expectations. Morris are certainly ambitious claiming to be building ‘A community that is designed to capture the same friendly, intimate 'village' atmosphere of its more well-established, and equally desirable neighbours: Stockton Heath, Grappenhall and Thelwall’. The problem however is that Edgewater Park is on the opposite bank of the Manchester Ship Canal in the far less desirable village of Latchford.

Including shops, cafe bar, parkland and a bowling green in the plans among the mix of apartments, family and executive homes is a positive start. Of the three show homes the flagship Winchester is an impressive 4 bed detached executive house with some thoughtful touches to its layout, the Sutton is only slightly smaller and has a good family feel to it. Sadly the 3 bed Ely feels cramped, the lounge being more of a corridor from the front door to the kitchen. Disappointingly a washer dryer and dishwasher only come as optional extras in the properties.

Once completed the development will be big enough to change the nature of Latchford and have the potential to raise the profile of the area. To achieve this Morris need to attract quality buyers which they will only do by meeting expectations and while the properties are priced around 20% cheaper than across the water, failure to include the expected white goods isn’t the luxury executives expect. A little more thought by the marketing department at Morris is needed if Edgewater Park is to meet the challenge.

Beech Road Festival

The annual Beech Road Festival in Chorlton has grown over the last thirteen years into one of Manchester's most vibrant events and this years celebrations drew the crowds again to the fashionable suburb. 

The festival to its benefit isn't as grand in size as the city centre's Manchester Day or Pride events, instead it has a more welcoming, relaxed and bohemian feel.  The chic and colourful boutiques, trendy bars and restaurants opened their doors and spilled out onto the street to celebrate their own community and welcome their visitors.  Outside Bar Lorenzo a funky Latino band entertained the the crowds while the tasty delights of stalls selling ice cream, English, Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisine ensured nobody went hungry

Chorlton Green filled with stalls selling local products, promoting local artists, charities and community groups while the larger Beech Road Park was packed with local musicians, an eclectic mix of stalls, funfair and the main stage.  As the street festival wound down the bands on the main stage rocked the festival into the night.

End of the NWDA

From the outset the Con-Lib coalition made it clear that abolishing quangos and the £500 million of public money they used up would be a key part of reducing government debt.  No doubt there are some strange and pointless quangos; The Potato Council, GTC and Milk Development Council, but not all are a waste of money.  In particular George Osbourne's decision to scrap the Regional Development Agencies seems very short sighted.

Today in the Downtown Manchester blog http://tiny.cc/cto7k Frank McKenna expressed his beliefs that the abolition of the RDAs is the coalitions first big mistake.  True there were considerable differences in the success levels of the various authorities yet as their purpose was to promote investment, surely more consideration should have been given to their future.  It seems the baby has been thrown out with the bath water.

The North West Development Agency was particularly successful in developing a region that is becoming a genuine alternative to London and helping to forge a path where local and county councils individually had failed.  This is not a criticism of the councils, they have their own interests to consider, however it is easy to see how the new Local Enterprise Partnerships will be as insular.

Could a North West wide networking group for LEPs be a way to form a working partnership?  In business the concept and success of 'givers-gain' is well known and personal interaction makes such co-operation far more likely.  Hopefully the LEPs will seek advice from wise heads such as Frank, Sir Howard Bernstein and Steve Broomhead and continue to create a bright future for our region.

Giants in Chester

The sun shone, crowds packed the city centre and giants came out to play at the annual Midsummer Watch parade.  Saturday and Sunday saw Chestival hit full swing with a spectacular street carnival celebrating Chester's history as the giant making capital of England.  During medieval times every town had a giant that would be paraded at the midsummer solstice, many towns would have their centre piece made in Chester which was renowned for making the best giants.

At the weekend more than fifty of these creations were paraded from the Cathedral doors around the city and back to the city hall accompanied by drummers, marching musicians and town criers.  Giants included the green man, a king and his knight and an enormous Robert Baden-Powell.

The day started with crowds being entertained by Buckley Brass Band in the town hall square while enjoying delicious food from Hickory's Smokehouse outdoor stall.  Following the parade, hundreds of festival goers gathered at the Roman Amphitheatre for the final performance of this years musical Mystery Play 'Noahs Flood'.  Chestival continues throughout June and July with music, art, theatre and sporting events across the city, for further details visit the event website http://www.chesterfestivals.co.uk/

Candy Cabs in Lymm

Crowds gathered in the sunshine as the cameras started rolling on new BBC comedy series Candy Cabs. Bridgewater Street in the village was closed and transformed into a film set with numerous business premises being re-decorated for the programme, most notably the old post office painted bright pink to match the taxis in the title and the youth club becoming Hotwheels Garage. Locals got a sneak preview of the programme as they were allowed to watch several scenes being filmed on the street itself.

Among the cast spotted in the village were former Eastenders stars Paul Nicholas and Jo Joyner with Claire Sweeney of musical Chicago and T.Vs 60 Minute Makeover. On spotting actor Dennis Lawson, one excited local businessman exclaimed “I’ve just seen Wedge from Star Wars!” The series written by Jane Lush and Johanne McAndrew and produced by Splash Media is a comedy drama about two unlikely northern women who embark on a business venture and start up a taxi firm. Billed as “Britain’s most glamorous taxi fleet”, several of the onlookers in Lymm pointed out the similarity between the fictitious company from the series and Pink Ladies taxis, although no one at the set to comment on whether the programme is based on the Warrington firm.

Buying a Piece of History

How many house hunters have you seen on property programmes saying they want a house with 'period features'?  Then they complain that there is only one bathroom / no en-suite / no garage etc.  Don't they understand that a property with period features is by its very nature, old?  Toilets were outside (if there was one at all) and the car hadn't been invented!  I always share the frustration of the programme's presenter.

This doesn't mean that old properties can't have many of the mod-cons taken for granted today or that modifications cannot be made to incorporate them.   However when buying older properties there are issues to take into consideration.  Old properties are often listed buildings meaning alterations must not change the character of the building and planning permission on listed buildings frequently takes longer to approve, expect to have to resubmit applications several times.  Building materials used for alterations to listed properties will have to match as closely as possible those used for the original building.  This can be expensive if the materials have to be specially made or specialist builders employed.  Even if the property isn't listed care should be taken that alterations are sympathetic to the property to prevent harming the value and re-sale potential of the property.

I recently viewed Marsh Farm, a tardis-like six bedroom 17th century farmhouse that the present owner proudly told me is the second oldest house in Sale.  Among its many period features are the most incredible and unique vaulted ceilings I have ever seen.  Even older is the picture-postcard cottage on Ferry Lane in Thelwall or slightly younger the ideal first time buyers cottage in Cale Green Stockport, all of these have retained their beautiful period charm while blending the requirements for modern living.  If only the T.V presenters could show them to their house hunters.