Reddish Vale Country Park

Country park beside the river Tame. The ‘’lake’ is two small mill‐ponds. For visitors, there is a farm, but it’s book‐only and child‐orientated, though casual visitors can look at the horses. Also tea‐rooms. And a tiny visitor‐centre—which has never been open for me. If you include the associated ‘Reddish Vale’ valley which runs south towards Stockport, the park is huge, near 2.5 miles long (and with access and path turns, that’s a 3 mile walk). The valley has features such as the river, a little history, a viaduct and a golf course. However, Reddish Vale Country Park is not for attractions (the local people rejected a proposal for a dry‐ski slope). Visitors are there because the farm has horses, the small tea‐rooms have wooden tables, and this long stretch of urban countryside has many habitats—meadows, riverbanks, woodland and recovered slag‐heaps. One of only a handful of places in Manchester where there is wide, open space with longer walks and a variety of flowers, trees and wildlife.