A different type of Cheshire day out for me saw me at Manchester Airport with a spotty little boy recovering from chickenpox.
Manchester Airport is set in North Cheshire's stunning, green countryside. Beautiful.
The Viewing Park is a purpose built viewing area and is next to the taxiways that are used by aircraft landing and leaving the airport. There are 3 raised mounds that give a higher view of the airfield. We were so close to the planes and our grandson loved it . Best of all it is a FREE attraction but we paid parking.
The car park is huge, and there is a Shop, a hangar with Concorde in it, a complete Avro Jet, a Monarch DC-10 nose section, a complete BEA Hawker Siddley HS-121 Trident 3B and a complete Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod.
There are various tours of Concorde and it is housed in its own hangar.
The cost was £5.00 parking for two hours which made for a cheap morning out for a little boy recovering from chickenpox.
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Comments
Planes landing and taking off can be called noisy by some listeners.
Does the Viewing Park distribute or suggest ear protection such as headphones?
Does the sound level ever become a bit too competitive with café or picnic-table or viewing-mound conversations?
The computer crashed before I could continue to the other component of café-concerned questions.
What drinks and eats does the Viewing Park café offer?
The fourth, Family friendly subheading advises us that "Although the Viewing Park is full of plane-spotters, it is also family friendly. There is a children's play area and a little café. The sheer size of the area means that it doesn't feel crowded. The play area is ( sensibly :) ) away from the viewing mounds.
Several picnic tables are available for families not wanting to pay café prices."
How does the Viewing Park café look? Does it have indoor and outdoor sitting areas?
The third paragraph to your introduction advises us that "The Viewing Park is a purpose built viewing area and is next to the taxiways that are used by aircraft landing and leaving the airport. There are 3 raised mounds that give a higher view of the airfield. We were so close to the planes and our grandson loved it . Best of all it is a FREE attraction but we paid parking."
Is the viewing area open only during the day or is after-dark viewing possible of evening and night flights?
Derdriu
Manchester is a publically owned airport owned by the 10 town councils around Greater Manchester. They maintain all the grounds and it is a beautiful place on North Cheshire land. The viewing part is a lovely family day out and very cheap too.
Veronica, Do you know when the airport does its lawn maintenance? The grounds photograph so beautifully that I started thinking about how I never have seen yard-working crews anywhere, not around the airport here, not around airports anywhere, no matter what hour I go by.
TY Mihgasper ,
It is a lovely place and being able to get on planes and be so close to them is fascinating. The cost makes it an ideal day out.
What a lovely way to spend a nice day off with a family! We could definitely use the same recipe at our biggest airports. Having a huge unoccupied place is a privilege we are too often not aware of. Thank you for the tour and all the photos.
Ringway is actually a hamlet between Wythenshawe and Hale Barns. There is a very old chapel there next to the Viewing Park and also an old pub The Romper.
You are right about the name Ringway. Occasionally I slip up and use it, puzzling the people that I speak to. Childhood habits die hard.