A Visit to RHS Bridgewater Garden.

 Wednesday 31st July 2024 in Bridgewater.

Today, we spent the day on the part of the canal where "Canal Mania" began. In September 1759, the Duke of Bridgewater obtained an Act of Parliament to build the UK's first canal that did not follow the course of an existing river. The canal opened on 17th July 1761 to carry the Duke's coal from Worsley into the centre of Manchester, with one horse able to pull 30 tons of coal instead of just carrying a few cwts. The price of coal reduced, the volume went up and the Duke made so much money that everyone else tried to copy his success by building canals. The "Packet House" at Worsley (below) is where it all started.

The canal was extended into the mine through this archway, which allowed the coal to be loaded on to boats inside the mine close to the coal face. These canals inside the mine also drained water from the mine and supplied water to the canal.

Just past Worsley is the new RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Garden at Bridgewater. We moored up both boats and the four of us walked into the garden. At the moment the garden is doing a promotion with Shaun Sheep; Shelley and Harley had never heard of him (what???!) so we had to explain how popular and much loved are Shaun and his friends.

M insisted on getting a Shaun Sheep hat and entered into the spirit of the occasion.

The gardens, which cover 156 acres, are only seven years old and the RHS has worked miracles in that time. There is a very large walled garden (one of the largest in this country) and the borders are spectacular.

The site was originally the gardens of a large country house, long since demolished, but the scale of the original gardens can be judged by the fact that this house belonged to the Head Gardener!

The tower is actually straight, the angle is just a trick of the camera.

The day was very hot so the menfolk found a shady spot while the ladies enthused over the incredible variety of plants.

One section is being created as a Chinese garden with a small stream running through it. It has been designed, and is part funded by, a company in China. It is still work in progress.

The RHS Garden has an excellent restaurant where we had lunch before walking back to the boats.

Later in the afternoon, we found a shady spot under a tree next to the boats for a glass or two.

As the sun went down it began to cool off a bit. We had both left the boats open to cool off when we went to sleep and so we both had to get up in the middle of the night when it started to pour with rain!

At least the rain cooled everything down a bit.

Today: 4 miles, 0 locks and 1.4 hours.

Trip: 130 miles, 71 locks and 66.9 hours.