Astbury Mere Country Park Sandy Lane Congleton Cheshire CW12 4FP
A Free Family Fun Day is coming to Astbury Mere in Congleton on Saturday, 17th May.
Put Saturday, 17th May in your diaries, when families are invited to step into the stories of Cheshire’s past in a playful and creative celebration of local history.
Astbury Bound is inspired by a treasure trove of historical records in the Cheshire Archives and is brought to life by event producers Wild Rumpus, the team behind the popular Just So Festival.
Families can enjoy hands-on arts and craft workshops inspired by local history from 11.30 am – 4 pm. Using some of the archive’s incredible historic maps as reference, you can design your own map of the area and places that are special to you. You can also make your own creature, taking inspiration from the beautifully hand-painted nature journals in the archive.
Then, make your own musical instrument using recycled materials before joining a musical parade around the lake at 2 pm.
Led by performers from Betty Brown Bags by Raggle Taggle Arts, you will all learn and sing a communal song with lyrics taken from folk songs in the Cheshire Archives. Families will walk together, sing together, and celebrate the land they live on in a creative nod to the ancient tradition of Beating the Bounds.
Beating the Bounds is a centuries-old tradition where communities would walk the boundaries of their town or parish, often encouraging children to ‘beat’ landmarks with twigs so they would remember the borders.
‘Astbury Bound will be such a unique day out for local families’, says Rowan Cannon, Director of event producers Wild Rumpus.‘There’s loads to get involved in and it’s all a real celebration of Congleton and the local area – I can’t wait to parade around the lake! It’s completely free and there’s no need to book, just turn up between 11.30 am and 4 pm.’
Astbury Bound is an interactive creative event created by Wild Rumpus, commissioned by Cheshire Archives, a shared service of Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils. It is part of the community engagement programme for the project ‘Cheshire’s archives: a story shared’, which will transform the way the archives service works and open up 900 years of Cheshire’s written history collections to a whole new audience. As well as a county-wide community engagement programme, two new archives centres in Chester and Crewe will feature exhibition and event spaces, new research rooms, workspace for staff and volunteers, as well as environmentally stable storage for the archives.
The project is funded by the Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council, The National Lottery Heritage Fund – made possible by National Lottery Players – and the Wolfson Foundation.
Councillor Jill Rhodes, lead for archives at Cheshire East Council, said: “The free family fun day will be a brilliant way for people to interact with Cheshire’s extensive archives and see local history brought to life.
“This is just one of many exciting events that will be taking place across the county as we prepare for the opening of two state-of-the-art new archive centres. I encourage people to go along and get involved with as many events as possible – there is a lot of history there just waiting to be uncovered!”
Helen Featherstone, Director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:‘it’s fantastic to see the events surrounding the Cheshire Archives project taking place. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, we are delighted to be supporting the project that will work to ensure the archive and collections are preserved for years to come, and allow local communities and visitors to learn more about Cheshire’s rich heritage.’
Saturday 17th May, Astbury Mere, 11.30 am – 4 pm– and it’s Free, Free, Free!
Interactive craft workshops 11.30 am – 4 pm, suitable for all ages
Musical parade at 2 pm
Etruria Canals Festival returns in 2025 on Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June, open 11am-5pm each day. Alongside the historic narrowboat gathering there will be a range of family friendly workshops, arts and heritage activities, performances, craft stalls and exhibitors, beer tent and street food. As usual the festivities will take place on the site of Etruria Industrial Museum (Kiln Down Close, Stoke-On-Trent, ST1 4RB) at the junction of the Trent and Mersey and Caldon Canals. The festival is FREE to attend We hope to see you there
OFF A54 CW12 2PH ONTO STATION ROAD / BULL GATE LANE BOSLEY (CW12 2PB) NEAR CONGLETON CHESHIRE
Commercial vehicles, steam engines, tractors, military vehicles, vintage cars, motor bikes and stationary engines as well as a wide variety of stalls and traders.
Live music on Saturday evening and possibly Friday (TBC) evening for those who are staying all weekend.
Cheapest bar prices around
If you've never been to one of our shows before then your missing out!
We do our best to keep prices down so that the whole family can enjoy a day out without breaking the bank.
If you've been too one our shows you will already know what a great little show we have going – and we look forward welcoming you once again.
The award-winning Buxton International Festival is an annual celebration of world-class opera, music, books and jazz with over 160 events to choose from every summer.
Here are five reasons to make Buxton your ‘go-to’ summer festival for 2025 (10-27 July).
1. Buxton – the beautiful spa town sits in heart of Derbyshire’s Peak District, worth a visit in itself. All the festival’s events are within easy walking distance of each other.
2. Operas Galore – In 2024, Buxton staged five new operas in four days and was nominated for an International Opera Award. 2025 sees a yet more impressive plans:
Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet, conducted by Adrian Kelly with the Orchestra of Opera North
A double bill of Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Taihiti and Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine, a Buxton International Festival and Norwich Theatre production
Opera Zuid production of Mozart’s The Impresario
La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers, a Vache Baroque production
Shorts – four brand new 20-minute operas by composers
Jasper Dommett, Martin Green and Carmel Smickersgill
3. Jazz Weekender Tickets – Jazz Weekender tickets for just £175 offering 12 world-class gigs varying from jazz, blues, funk and Latin, plus an Oscar Peterson extravaganza. Stand-out artists include Ineza, Graham Clark Quartet, Emily Masser Quartet, Trio JDM, Baiana, Alan Barnes with an all-star band, Dean Stockdale Quartet, Emma Rawicz Quartet and Xhosa Cole Quartet.
4. Books – 33 book talks including Diane Abbott MP, Baroness Lola Young, Petroc Trelawny, Ben Macintyre and Jonathan Sumption.
5. Classical Music – World-class concerts every day from artists including Steven Hough, Imogen Cooper, Benjamin Grosvenor, Tallis Scholars, English Concert, Simon Keenlyside and Sarah Connolly.
Box Office – Tel 01298 2072190
Booking office opens at 10am on Tuesday 15 April 2025
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Royal Cheshire Showground, Flittogate Lane, Tabley
WE'RE TAKING THE ROOF OFF IN 2025
And here it is!
A line-up to compliment the hype.
Not only are we bringing back the usual full on bumper packed schedule for all ages, but this time it’ll be to the sounds of DODGY, EAST 17, ALISON LIMERICK, NIKKI BELLE , SWEET FEMALE ATTITUDE, BRANDON BLOCK and WOODY COOK!
Lose yourself for 4 days as we transform The Royal Cheshire Showground into the Northwests biggest Campervan family festival.