Fletcher Moss Gardens

Great park, I never knew existed in didsbury until recently.

There’s no better way to spend a sunny afternoon in Didsbury than to join a few friends for a picnic in Fletcher Moss Gardens. There’s some beautiful exotic trees, shrubs and flowers to look at. Not least in the rock garden, which is dog free. The rock garden also has its own pond and I swear I’ve seen terrapins or turtles in there. Nobody ever believes me, though!
Throughout the rest of the park, you’ll find plenty of benches where you can bask in the sunshine, as well as a great little café, which does the best flapjacks and cakes in the world! There’s also a beautiful arboretum that’s lovely to sit in and a couple of tennis courts, which seem to be in almost constant use during the summer months! These tennis Courts are sometimes used for open air theatre productions in the summer. I saw Oscar Wilde’s The Important of Being Earnest there one year, and there was a lovely atmosphere.

Fletcher Moss is one of the best parks around the Didsbury area. The park is split into many different sections the gardens and ponds, the manicured seating area, the wide open grassy areas and the paths and coffee shop. It offers everything you want from a park room to stretch your legs, beautiful plants and flowers to admire, and a lovely sheltered area for some sun-​bathing. With parking available down Stenner Lane (though this often gets busy very quickly in the warmer months), and the Didsbury nearby to go for a nice glass of Pimms afterwards, it is the ideal location to while away some summer hours.

so cool for lazing around on a sunny afternoon!

Spent my childhood having picnics in Fletcher Moss and now I take my own kids. Love the little tea room which sells yummy home made cakes, flap jacks and treats. The garden’s are still well kept and the lawns are maintained and clean enough for running around barefoot on (still with slight caution). Great place to relax on your lunch break if you work locally or a definite destination at weekends rain or shine.

Great in all seasons. We spent many a cold autumn and winter wandering round these gardens with the multitude plants, shrubs and trees perfecting their announcement to the world in perfect symmetrical timing. As a novice green finger I’d expect a trip here in mid winter to be barren and vague. Not so. There are plenty of evergreen and hardy little numbers seemingly cascading from the heavens: the gardens are perched upon a hill with small (almost hidden) pathways taking you around. Through the centre a small stream glides its way down from the top to the bottom of which nearby lives a handsome, lilly pad covered pond. The sights, smells and sounds are harmonious to the point where you want to free yourself of the modern clothing system and make up a sun jig whilst whistling nakedly on an imaginary flutenow I’m not sure if that’s legal or not but at any rate this is certainly a lovely organic and kinetic high, just what the Buddhists would advise for kick starting a lifelong career in mediation.
It’s only a few miles from central Manchester and a mere hop and skip from Didsbury village (of and the Didsbury makes a perfect post walk refreshment parlour).
In the grounds of the house lies a small café (I have to be honest in stating I prefer the pub) which sells crazy items like tea and scones. This is where the RSPB was formed over a hundred years ago, so you get a bit of history thrown in too.
If you continue walking out of the gardens onto Fletcher Moss Park (past the lawn tennis courts and a smaller seated garden) you come to Stenner Woods which itself spurts into the river Mersey via the Mersey way (a fine walk in itself).
Next to the Cock Inn lies the much smaller, but wonderful all the same, Parsonage Gardens which contains the old house of Alderman Fletcher Moss who donated the park to the city many, may years ago.
If a trip into the countryside over the weekend just can’t be managed then this is the next best thing. A few years ago it won a national award for the best green flag garden in England, so it seems others agree on it’s special nature too.

Gorgeous, lovely, a breath of fresh air in Manchester (literally). Lovely gardens, pretty fragrant flowers. At this time of year the trees are full of blossom and it’s positively delightful to wander round early on in the morning, when there’s not many other people about. If you walk through the gardens walking away from Didsbury, you walk along a wooden walkway through some woods (bluebells, forget-​me-​nots and snowdrops in abundance at the moment) you reach the ‘wilds’ behind — an expanse of much more wild land which stretches to Chorlton waterpark and beyond, and you can walk along the Mersey. Great for walks, and finding secret places to hide.

This is a great little spot in the summer, there is something for everyone — tennis courts, beautiful well maintained botanic gardens, grassy area’s perfect for picnics, and there is also a cute little coffe shop. Which has been there ever since I was little serving delicious home-​made cakes and snacks.
Keep your eye out for local events held here as well, as I once went for a stroll and there was an art exhibition being held in the open, made up from local artists

Fletcher Moss Gardens is one of Didsbury’s most beautiful green spaces. Stunning whether its backdrop is summer blue skies, or the pretty oranges of autumn, this is a quiet park area away from the noise and fumes of Wilmslow Road. With tiered botanical gardens, pond life, nature reserve, tennis courts, Stenner Woods and the nearby River Mersey it’s an ideal retreat whenever you need some clear air and tranquillity away from the rigours of modern life. If you’re a keen tennis player, you’ll also find a choice of grass or shale courts.