Styal Woods is within Styal Estate which is linked to Quarry Bank Mill. There are extensive riverside walks in attractive woodland. The whole area is one of Britain's greatest industrial heritage sites, showing how a complete industrial community lived.
We parked up at the car park at the National Trust site of Quarry Bank . This is a free carpark so a perfect place to start your adventure. As you walk past the visitor reception, instead of heading down towards the mill, you take a right. This path leads you to Styal Works Village, which has a gorgeous row of cottages.
Top Info
• Some challenging climbs
• Not suitable for pushchairs
• Free parking
• Cafe and toilets at Quarry Bank
• Spot Mr Tumbles house
• Styal Rd, Styal, Wilmslow SK9 4HP
These are so cute and look like the cottage from "The Holiday" christmas film. One of the cottages was used in the CBeebies Mr Tumble programe. From here, we went left past the entrance to the church and into styal woods. There is a circular walk that takes you along the River Bollin and past the gardens of Quarry Bank. We walked along till we got to "Giants Castle Bridge" and then decided to turn back at this point but you can carry on walking along the meandering River Bollin until you get to Manchester airport if you wanted a much longer walk.
We walked for about 5 km. The path is very up and down with lots of steps and bridges, so it is not suitable for pushchairs or scooters. We took scooters as I didn't know this, so we ended up carrying them a lot. After carrying scooters and climbing plenty of steps, we definitely deserved a snack, so we headed to the Quarry Bank cafe, which is inside the mill.
We didn't have to use a National Trust membership to park, walk, or go to the cafe, so it was a completely free activity apart from our treats in the cafe. If you do have National Trust membership, you could add in a walk around the gardens or inside the mill, too.
Click here for Quarry Bank's Website
Visit Dec 2023
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