Arley Hall throws open its doors, gardens and grounds for a full weekend of house tours, fungi walks and a plant fair, runners lace up across Warrington, Nantwich and Tatton Park for three very different causes. Later in the week, town criers from eight nations descend on Chester for a competition that hasn’t been held here in over a decade.
Let’s dive in!
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🎉 What’s On In Cheshire
🗓️ Fri · 18 September
⭐ Editor's Pick
🎸 R&B Classics
Fri 18 Sept, 7pm-10pm, Chester Cathedral
A candlelit evening of classic rhythm and blues performed inside the cathedral’s atmospheric setting.
👉 Details
🎉 Regener8 80’s
Fri 18 Sept, The Coppenhall Club, Crewe
An 80s tribute night covering everything from Duran Duran to Bon Jovi, Prince to Wham!, with proceeds split between a local charity and two lucky raffle winners. £5, 18+.
👉 Details
🎭 Chester Time Travel Tour: The Dark Prince
Fri 18 Sept, 11am, Picturehouse Square, outside Chester New Market
A free, interactive 60-minute family walking tour through 2,000 years of Chester’s history, this one led by a mysterious undertaker character. No pre-booking needed.
👉 Details
🎬 Dirty Dancing Outdoor Cinema
Fri 18 Sept, gates 6pm, film 7:30pm, Arley Hall
The 1987 classic under the stars in Arley Hall’s grounds, bring a blanket and a picnic.
👉 Details
😂 Scott Bennett: Stuff
Fri 18 Sept, 7:30pm, Storyhouse, Chester
The comedian’s latest tour show. 16+.
👉 Details
🗓️ Sat · 19 September
⭐ Editor's Pick
🏰 Arley Hall Open
Sat 19-Mon 21 Sept, 10am-4:30pm (last entry 4pm), Arley Hall, Northwich
A rare chance to see inside the Hall itself, on top of the usual gardens and grounds. Adult £8, child £4, family £22.
👉 Details
📜 All Change: Chester in the 1960s & 70s
Sat 19 Sept, 3pm-4:15pm, Chester Quaker Meeting House
An illustrated talk on two decades of dramatic change to Chester’s built environment, what was new, what was lost and what was saved, part of the Meeting House’s Heritage Open Day, which also has drop-in displays and complimentary tea and cake from 10am.
👉 Details
🏇 Chester Racecourse Season Finale
Sat 19 Sept, 12pm, Chester Racecourse
The last race day of the Chester season, with a MASSAOKE live-band singalong once racing wraps up. From £20.
👉 Details
⛵ Rosies’ Boat Party: Ibiza Classics
Sat 19 Sept, boarding 1:30pm, sailing 2pm-4:30pm, ChesterBoat
An afternoon boat party on the River Dee playing Ibiza anthems and 90s-to-modern dance classics. From £25.
👉 Details
🚂 Crewe Heritage Fair
Sat 19 Sept, 10am-4:30pm, Crewe Heritage Centre
A celebration of Crewe’s history from railways to theatres, with displays, historic ASLEF banners, local archives and family activities, plus the chance to win Lyceum show tickets. Free entry, last admission 3:30pm.
👉 Details
🎸 ZZ Not: A Tribute to ZZ Top
Sat 19 Sept, 1pm-7:30pm, Empire, Warrington
Sharp riffs and Texas boogie energy, a tribute band bringing the blues-rock classics including “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and “Sharp Dressed Man.” Free entry.
👉 Details
🌿 Autumn Walk on Wybunbury Moss NNR
Sat 19 Sept, 10am-12:30pm, Wybunbury Moss, near Nantwich
A guided walk out onto the floating peat raft of this quaking bog nature reserve, only accessible with a guide. Wellies recommended, free for over-8s, not suitable for dogs.
👉 Details
🕯️ Walk of Hope
Sat 19 Sept, event village opens 4pm, walk starts 5pm, Tatton Park
A 10K charity walk through Tatton Park in support of The Christie Charity, with live music, lantern decorating and a fireworks finale at 7:45pm. Dog-friendly. Adult £15, child £10, family £45.
👉 Details
🍄 Guided Autumnal Walks
Sat 19 Sept, 11am & 2pm, Arley Hall, Northwich
Naturalist “Fungal Punk Dave” leads a fungi, galls and wildlife spotting walk around the Grove and picnic area, roughly 90 minutes.
👉 Details
💍 The Big Wedding Show at Bolesworth
Sat 19-Sun 20 Sept, 10am-4pm, Bolesworth Estate
Cheshire’s biggest wedding show, over 90 exhibitors, catwalk shows and goody bags for the first 2,000 couples through the door.
👉 Details
🗓️ Sun · 20 September
⭐ Editor's Pick
🚗 Festival of 1,000 Classic Cars
Sun 20 Sept, 10am-4pm, Cholmondeley Castle
Almost 30 years running, this show regularly attracts over 1,000 display vehicles alongside the North West Classic Motorcycle Show, live commentary and judging, and trade and autojumble stands. £12.
👉 Details
🏃 Warrington Running Festival
Sun 20 Sept, from 9am, Warrington town centre
A community road-running event through closed streets, starting and finishing at the Golden Gates by the Town Hall, with half marathon, 10K and 1 mile options.
👉 Details
🐯 Run for Nature 2026
Sun 20 Sept, Chester Zoo
A 5K, 10K and kids’ mile fundraising run in aid of tiger conservation.
👉 Details
🏊 North West Triathlon
Sun 20 Sept, Barony Park & Nantwich Swimming Pool
A super sprint and sprint distance triathlon with solo and team relay options, heated pool swim, countryside bike route and grassy run course. All abilities welcome.
👉 Details
🧂 Lion Salt Works 1980s Celebration
Sun 20 Sept, 11am-4pm, Marston, near Northwich
Marking 40 years since commercial salt production ended here, a free eighties-themed open day with salt-making demonstrations, archive film screenings and a best retro outfit competition. Free entry.
👉 Details
⚙️ Bunbury Watermill
Sun 20 Sept, 1pm-5pm, Bunbury Watermill
A beautifully restored working watermill dating to around 1840, with a guided tour of the machinery in full working order. £7.50.
👉 Details
🌻 Autumn Plant Fair
Sun 20 Sept, 10am-4pm, Arley Hall, Northwich
A plant fair alongside full access to Arley’s gardens, dogs welcome on leads. £5, children free.
👉 Details
🗓️ REST OF THE WEEK
🎙️ An Evening with Mel Giedroyc and Clare Balding
Mon 21 Sept, 7pm, Storyhouse Theatre, Chester
Two national treasures and real-life friends discuss their extraordinary careers and their journeys into writing fiction.
👉 Details
🗣️ World Town Crier Tournament
Tue 22-Thu 24 Sept (event runs to Sat 26), venues across Chester
Twenty-five town criers from eight nations compete for the world title on the streets of Chester, the first time the tournament’s been held here since 2014. Free to watch.
👉 Details
📖 From Venice to Cheshire: The Grand Tour Story Behind Tatton Park’s Library
Wed 23 Sept, 2pm-3pm, Tatton Park
A talk with PhD researcher Rachel Daley on how rare books found their way into Tatton’s historic library via the travels of Samuel Hill and Samuel Egerton. Mansion entry applies.
👉 Details
🎷 Music Train on the Mid Cheshire Line
Thu 24 Sept, 6:30pm-11pm, The Goshawk, Mouldsworth
The last Music Train of the season, catch it from Altrincham or any station along the line, with Hound Dog Blues playing on board and at The Goshawk.
👉 Details
🐾 Clare Balding at Tatton Park
Thu 24 Sept, from 11am, Tatton Park
A dog walk through the grounds with the broadcaster and author, followed by a Q&A and signing for her debut novel Pastures New. £12.50 including coffee and cake, one dog per person.
👉 Details
🚀 Tim Peake: Astronauts, The Quest to Explore Space
Thu 24 Sept, 7:30pm, Parr Hall, Warrington
The astronaut shares stories from his own missions and fellow astronauts across the decades, from the earliest spaceflights to the push towards Mars. From £36.50.
👉 Details
🧺 LOCAL CRAFT MARKETS
Wilmslow Artisan Market – Sat 19 Sept, 10am-4pm | 👉 Details
Tarporley Makers Market – Sun 20 Sept, 11am-4pm | 👉 Details
🗓️ DATES FOR THE DIARY
Congleton Makers Market – Sat 26 Sept | 👉 Details
Treacle Market, Macclesfield – Sun 27 Sept | 👉 Details
Friends of Hadlow Road Station, 160th Anniversary Pop-up Café – Sun 27 Sept | 👉 Details
💎 Hidden Gem: The Dane Valley & Wincle Gritstone Walk
Wincle is a tiny hamlet tucked into a fold of the hills on the Cheshire-Staffordshire-Derbyshire border, and the walk from here follows the River Dane, thought to be the fastest-flowing and cleanest river running through Cheshire, through a mix of riverside woodland and open farmland, with a short climb that earns you proper views back across the valley.
It’s quiet even by Peak District fringe standards, well signed but rarely crowded, and works just as well for a family outing as it does for something more strenuous.
The real hook, though, is the finish. Wincle Beer Company brews on-site in a converted barn right on the route, water drawn from its own borehole, and the little brewery shop does tastings and bottles to take home. A short walk further on is The Ship Inn, a proper 16th-century village pub with fires in winter and a beer garden in summer.
Practical bits:
Start point: Wincle Brewery, Tolls Farm Barn, Dane Bridge, Wincle, SK11 0QE, with limited roadside parking near the brewery
Route: Wincle Gritstone Walk, a 7.2km circuit, easy-to-moderate, roughly 2-3 hours; a free circular Dane Valley walk leaflet is also available from the brewery shop
Terrain: Riverside paths and woodland tracks with a short uphill stretch, can be muddy after rain, suitable for most fitness levels
Dogs: Welcome on the walk and around the brewery grounds, though not inside the brewery itself
Refreshments: Wincle Brewery shop, open daily 10am-4:30pm (later on summer weekends), tastings and bottled beer, cakes at weekends; The Ship Inn a short walk further on for a proper sit-down pint
That’s it for this week.
Thanks for reading The Cheshire Buzz! See you next Thursday – same time, same inbox.