Tag: Fletcher Moss

Pub Crawls: The Didsbury Dozen

It’s become something of a tradition on any birthday ending in a 0 or a 5 for me to do the Didsbury Dozen – a famous, or infamous pub crawl involving 12 pints in 12 Didsbury pubs!

I’ve done the Didsbury Dozen a couple of times before – firstly on my 30th birthday, and then ten years later when I turned 40. This year my birthday ends in a 5, so it’s time to put my drinking boots on again and prove I’ve still got what it takes (which I have, I totally have).

If the weather is nice there will be some excellent beer gardening opportunities and I’m hoping some of my oldest, newest, bestest and nicest friends will join me along the way. I’m hoping it’ll be a good day to remember and a nice way to celebrate my birthday.

Pub Crawls: The Didsbury Dozen

To make the most of the Didsbury Dozen, it’s really important to be disciplined with yourself and your pub crawl team mates. It’s easy to find a sunny spot in a beer garden and not want to leave, or to spend too much time in one place. Someone needs to marshal the troops, check no one is cheating and that you’ve visited 12 establishments before last orders.

My tip is to start early, get three or four pubs or bars under your belt fairly quickly, and then have a slow hour in a pub with a good beer garden. Then crank up the pace again, remembering to stop for a hearty bite to eat to soak up some of the booze and then power through to the end.

Of course Didsbury has lost some good pubs over the last few years, so each time I do the dozen I need to plot a new course. Each time I need to cross off an old favourite and add a new bar or two. It’s not the end of the world, just a sign of changing times.

This year the course I’ve plotted looks like this…

  1. The Woodstock
  2. The Railway
  3. The Metropolitan
  4. Slug & Lettuce
  5. The Station
  6. The Dockyard
  7. The Dog & Partridge
  8. The Nelson
  9. The Fletcher Moss
  10. The Royal Oak
  11. Ye Olde Cock
  12. The Didsbury

*With the option to swap one of these out for food and a beer at Expo Lounge.

Ten years ago Didsbury was quite a different looking place, pubs and bars have come and gone, some remain and will always be here, I hope.

This was the order I did the Didsbury Dozen in 2006…

  1. The Didsbury
  2. Ye Olde Cock
  3. The Famous Crown
  4. The Royal Oak
  5. The Fletcher Moss
  6. The Pitcher & Piano
  7. The Dog & Partridge
  8. O’Neills
  9. Saints & Scholars
  10. Cafe Rouge
  11. Hog’s Head
  12. Slug & Lettuce

And this is the Didsbury Dozen I did in 2016 –

  1. The Railway
  2. The Metropolitan
  3. The Greenfinch
  4. Slug & Lettuce
  5. The Station
  6. The Stokers Arms
  7. The Dog & Partridge
  8. The Milson Rhodes
  9. The Fletcher Moss
  10. The Royal Oak
  11. The Famous Crown
  12. Bourbon & Black

If you fancy having a go at the Didsbury Dozen, I wish you well with your challenge. The most important thing is to have fun, and a very good breakfast before you start.

Didsbury Dozen
This post was originally published in September 2016, but really needed updating, so I did.

Pubs, Bars and Restaurants open in Didsbury – April 2021

Whilst some people will be cautious about returning to the pub for a pint or two, many more are keen to get back to the bar. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of which pubs and bars are open in Didsbury (East, West and the Village) and if you need to book in advance.

My favourite pub, The Fletcher Moss closed for lockdown at the end of October 2020 and finally reopened on Monday 12th April 2021. The Fletcher isn’t alone in having a prolonged lockdown, and some pubs and bars (notably The Stokers Arms) haven’t managed to survive the ups and the many downs the Covid 19 pandemic has unleashed upon them.

Pubs, Bars and Restaurants open in Didsbury - April 2021

Things change all the time, so if I’ve missed someone out who is open in Didsbury, or if the walk in or booking requirements change, please do let me know!

Pubs & bars open in Didsbury…

Cove on Burton Road – Book or walk in

Folk Cafe Bar – Reopening 26th April, booking advised

Head of Steam – Opening 16th April at 4pm

Saison – West Didsbury – Walk in

Slug & Lettuce – Not opening until May

The Cheshire Line Tavern – You’ll need to book

The Didsbury – Need to book

The Dog & Partridge – Closed, no outside seating

The Drawing Room – Walk in

The Famous Crown – Still closed

The Fletcher Moss – Walk in, no need to book

The Gateway – Walk in

The George Charles – Walk in

The Metropolitan – Bookings only for now

The Nelson – Closed, no outside seating

The Parrs Wood – Walk in

The Railway – Closed, no outside seating

The Red Lion (Withington) – Walk in until 17th May 2021

The Royal Oak – Still closed

The Station – Still closed

The Woodstock – You’ll need to book

Wine and Wallop – Walk in, book if you can

Ye Olde Cock – You’ll need to book

Pubs, Bars and Restaurants open in Didsbury - April 2021

Cafes & Restaurants open in Didsbury…

Alberts – You’ll need to book

Alpine Tea Room, Fletcher Moss – Walk in

Azzuro Didsbury – Open Thu/Fri/Sat for takeaways (delivery sometimes available) check website

Caramello – Take away only for now

Croma – Open, bookings only

Dhoom Dhaam – You can walk in

Didsbury Park Café – Walk in

Expo Lounge – Open, no need to book

Fog Lane Café – Walk in

Great British Pizza – Book in advance

Greens – Book in advance

Hispi – Book in advance

Home Community Café – Walk in

Jajoo Indian Street Food and Craft Beer – You’ll need to book

Mary & Archie – Currently being renovated, hope to open 23rd April

Nagoya Sushi & Noodle Bar – Bookings welcome

Piccolino – You’ll need to book

Proove Pizza – You’ll need to book

Rustik Café Bar – Walk in only, tables will be subject to a time limit

The Art of Tea – Open, no need to book

The Botanist – Open from 17th May, booking advised

The Deli (rebranded as Seven 54 Cafe Bar) – Still closed but due to open soon

The Lime Tree – Opening 23rd April, booking advised

Thyme Out Food Co – Walk in only

Volta – You’ll need to book

Zumu Sushi – Walk in or book ahead

PS. It goes without saying that if you make a booking and you can no longer make it, please contact the bar or restaurant and cancel. Times are hard and no shows will cost them money. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like to read about the Didsbury Dozen.

Blooming beautiful – Didsbury in Bloom 2017

Didsbury village always puts on a fine display for Didsbury in Bloom judging day. We have a small army of volunteers who plant up tubs and flowerbeds throughout the village all over the year, but as judging day for Didsbury in Bloom 2017 approached, more volunteers and residents rolled up their sleeves to make sure Didsbury showed off how blooming beautiful she is.

Blooming beautiful - Didsbury in Bloom 2017

On 4th July this year the judges arrived to inspect the village for Didsbury in Bloom 2017. I live on one of the roads which is judged so we’d spent some time making sure our front garden looked the best it could. Over the weekend everyone down our lane pulled out their green bins and set to work making sure everything was tidy, swept and neatly trimmed. It looked a treat.

This year Didsbury in Bloom celebrated our connection to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The RSPB was founded by Emily Williamson in her home in Didsbury in 1889. Today you can visit where the first meetings were held at what is now the Alpine Tea Room in Fletcher Moss Gardens.

Blooming beautiful - Didsbury in Bloom 2017

On Ford Lane the volunteers had spent a lot of time building and making a Bug Hotel. The Bug Hotel is a fine addition to the green on Ford Lane, creating a little wildlife haven for birds and bugs was a great idea. Some of the local children lent a hand to help build it and we hope it will become a permanent fixture on the lane.

Blooming beautiful - Didsbury in Bloom 2017

Ford Lane is fringed on one side by a strip of woodland and has tidy grass verges with planters which are planted with bulbs and bedding plants. In spring the lane comes alive with blousy blossom. It’s a real wildlife corridor and we have all kinds of birds visiting our gardens throughout the year. We also have a family of foxes, plus owls, bats and we’ve seen more butterflies about this year than I can remember.

Blooming beautiful - Didsbury in Bloom 2017

I really love this hanging ball of pine cones, made with two hanging baskets joined together. It’s huge but it looks great hanging from one of the ancient trees which are on the lane. Clever isn’t it?

After the judges had moved on to other parts of the village, some of the volunteers and helpers gathered for a much needed cup of tea and homemade cake. It was a good opportunity for neighbours to mingle and chat for a while. Even the cat found time in her busy schedule to join us.

Blooming beautiful - Didsbury in Bloom 2017

Didsbury in Bloom is a lovely community thing to be part of. We are very lucky to live somewhere where many of the residents have such pride in their area. We can’t always help out as much as we’d like, but we try to keep our front garden looking neat and tidy, and we help out on community days when the green bins, hedge trimmers and sweeping brushes come out.

The Didsbury in Bloom 2017 team won’t know the results of the judging for a little while yet, but we have high hopes of repeating the success of previous years.

Read more about Didsbury – Five fabulous things about Didsbury Village.

Big thanks to Ted’s Garden Shed who worked really hard to clear the scruffy wilderness of our front garden and create something rather lovely in its place.

Visiting the Didsbury Bug Hotel

One of my favourite places to go for one of my regular walks is Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens in Didsbury, not least because I can pop into the cafe for a pot of tea and a big wedge of cake while I’m out. This week whilst I was walking through the park I spied this, the Didsbury Bug Hotel. 

The sign reads…

Find twigs, pine cones, leaves or bark around the park and add it to our bug hotel to look after all our mini beasts!

Didsbury Bug Hotel

I thought this was a fantastic idea to encourage kids and families to do a little bit for nature and to learn more about the insects we have in the UK. 

Apparently the average garden is home to over 2,000 different species of insects, some of these bugs are essential for helping to control the pests which eat our flowers, fruit and vegetables, some like bumblebees pollinate our plants who are in decline, so by building the Didsbury Bug Hotel we can contribute to their conservation.

I was incredibly excited to see the hotel pop up and I couldn’t wait to take the small boy out to see it at the weekend. Sadly by the time weekend had come around and we’d got to the park, the Didsbury Bug Hotel was gone. Vandals (for want of a better word) had burnt it down and I felt incredibly angry about that.

At home in our own garden I’m trying to create a space which encourages wildlife to thrive. Planting flowers which bees and butterflies love and we’ve got some bird feeders up for the local bird life. I think we’ll have to create out own little Didsbury Bug Hotel, it might not be as big as the one in Fletcher Moss, but it’s a small thing that we can do together to help our local insect population.