Steam, Stages & Sunshine

Good Morning Cheshire! 👋 

It’s a big one. Cholmondeley Castle turns into festival central as Deva Fest rolls through the weekend with Jessie J, Ronan Keating and James Morrison, Ellesmere Port gets its own family theatre festival with Topsy Turvy, and Chelford’s traction engines return with a Saturday fireworks finale. Add Tatton Park’s 5k & 10k, Arley Hall opening its doors for a rare Hall tour, and Grosvenor Park’s outdoor cinema season kicking off, and you’ve got a proper packed one.

Let’s dive in!

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🎉 What’s On In Cheshire

🗓️ Fri · 7 August

🎪 Deva Fest: Friday
Fri 7 Aug, Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas
Day one of Cheshire’s big family camping festival, headlined by James Morrison, with N-Trance, The Christians, EMF and the Symphonic Ibiza Orchestra across the stages. Free fairground rides, comedy, circus workshops and dog-friendly throughout. Selling fast, expected to sell out by the weekend.
👉 Details

🐠 The Mad Aquarists Live Lab
Runs to Mon 31 Aug, Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire Oaks
A summer science trail with live lab experiments and an Aqua Theatre show, alongside the usual sharks, octopus and reptiles.
👉 Details

🌍 The Planet Awakens (final day)
Ends Fri 7 Aug, Catalyst, Widnes
A hands-on workshop exploring how scientists are working to understand and address environmental change.
👉 Details

⛪ Chester Cathedral: Summer
Runs to Mon 31 Aug, Chester Cathedral and city-wide
A summer festival turning the cathedral into a place to rest and play, with a giant marble run, a climbing wall and twilight experiences.
👉 Details

🧚 Peter Pan
Runs to Sat 15 Aug, Grosvenor Park, Chester
Storyhouse’s walkabout theatre production for under-10s continues its run.
👉 Details

🎸 Rock The Civic 4
Fri 7 Aug, Nantwich Civic Hall, Nantwich
A night of live rock music at the Civic, part of Nantwich’s regular gig programme.
👉 Details

🗓️ Sat · 8 August

🚜 Astle Park Traction Engine Rally
Sat 8-Sun 9 Aug, 10am, Astle Park, Chelford
One of Cheshire’s biggest steam and vintage weekends, traction engines, vintage cars, a fairground, autojumble and a Saturday night fireworks finale.
👉 Details

🎸 Across The Universe 66-70: The Beatles’ Studio Years
Sat 8 Aug, 7:30pm, Storyhouse Main Theatre, Chester
A live band and orchestra recreate The Beatles’ groundbreaking 1966-1970 studio recordings, with full orchestration and no wigs or costumes, just musical authenticity.
👉 Details

🏃 Tatton Park 5k & 10k
Sat 8 Aug, 8:45am (10k) & 9:05am (5k), Tatton Park, Knutsford
Road-closed, chip-timed races looping through Tatton’s parkland, with a lively event village and finisher’s medal waiting at the end.
👉 Details

🏛️ Arley Hall Open Weekend
Sat 8-Mon 10 Aug, 10am-4:30pm, Arley Hall, Northwich
A rare chance to tour inside the Hall itself, not just the gardens, paired with the estate’s woodland walks and plant nursery.
👉 Details

🚂 Murder Mystery Dining Train: “Late Departure!” (Staffordshire, not Cheshire)
Sat 8 Aug, departs Froghall Station 19:00
A 1963-set whodunit performed aboard a heritage dining train through the Churnet Valley, three-course meal included. 16+, £80pp.
👉 Details

🐻 Garden Stories
Sat 8 Aug, 11am-3pm, Congleton Bath House & Physic Garden, Congleton
A playful family trail through the garden with Bibby the bear, running every Saturday through the summer.
👉 Details

🗓️ Sun · 9 August

🎪 Deva Fest: Sunday
Sun 9 Aug, Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas
The festival’s final day, headlined by Jessie J, with Ash, Gok Wan, K Klass and Apache Indian also on the bill.
👉 Details

🧸 Teddy Bears’ Picnic
Sun 9 Aug, 10am-4pm, National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port
Guess the teddy’s name to win it, a waterside picnic and family games, plus the usual lock demonstrations and boat-themed playground.
👉 Details

🌱 Capesthorne Hall Plant Hunters’ Fair
Sun 9 Aug, 10am-4pm, Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield
Specialist plant nurseries from across the region selling rare and unusual plants, with entry including access to the hall’s gardens.
👉 Details

🌷 NGS Garden Opening: Norley Bank Farm
Sun 9 Aug, Norley Bank Farm, Frodsham
A 2-acre garden with colourful borders and a well-stocked herbaceous border wrapping the farmhouse, open for the National Garden Scheme.
👉 Details

🗓️ REST OF THE WEEK

🌲 Adventure Days at Petty Pool
Mon-Fri, until 14 Aug, 8:30am-4pm, Venturewood at Petty Pool, Sandiway
High ropes, canoeing and bushcraft for ages 6-13, £35 per child.
👉 Details

🚤 Summer Family Fun at Anderton Boat Lift
Daily, until 1 Sep, 10am-4pm, Anderton Boat Lift, Northwich
Up to three kids go free on the Edwin Clark trip boat with each paying adult, plus a full programme of hands-on activities.
👉 Details

🎭 Outdoor Theatre in the Walled Garden: Othello
Thu 13 Aug, 6pm gardens/7pm show, Arley Hall, Northwich
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men perform Shakespeare’s classic in the open air, all-male cast, Elizabethan costume and live music. Bring a picnic.
👉 Details

🧺 LOCAL CRAFT MARKETS

• Sandbach Makers Market – Sat 8 Aug, 10am-3pm | 👉 Details

• Northwich Artisan Market – Sat 8 Aug, 10am-4pm | 👉 Details

• Nantwich Bespoke Market – Sat 8 Aug, Town Square | 👉 Details

• Warrington Makers Market – Sun 9 Aug, 11am-4pm | 👉 Details

🗓️ DATES FOR THE DIARY

• Tarporley Makers Market – Sun 16 Aug | 👉 Details

• Horse Boating Live – Sun 16 Aug, National Waterways Museum | 👉 Details

• Firework Champions (rescheduled) – Sat 26 Sept, Arley Hall | 👉 Details

💎 Hidden Gem: Moore Village & Bridgewater Canal, near Runcorn

Tucked between Runcorn and Warrington in the Borough of Halton, this is a village of fewer than 800 people that the A56 bypass quietly left alone decades ago, so it’s kept a proper sleepy, canal-side atmosphere while everything around it has grown up.

Moore Bridge, a steeply humped, Grade II listed crossing over the Bridgewater Canal, dates all the way back to 1772, and it’s still the sort of spot where you’ll see residential narrowboats moored up rather than tourists with cameras.

The walk itself loops out from the village into Moore Nature Reserve, two hundred acres of reclaimed heathland, woodland and lakes that used to be landfill and now host orchids, dragonflies and a proper spread of birdlife, with hides dotted along the water for a proper look.

You’ll pass the old course of the disused Runcorn and Latchford Canal, gorse-lined paths, and on a clear day glimpses of ships working their way along the Manchester Ship Canal to the south, a genuinely odd and lovely contrast to the birdsong.

Moore Nature Reserve – by Andy

It’s not a dramatic walk in the way a hilltop or a castle ruin is dramatic, but that’s exactly why it earns a spot here. It’s flat, it’s easy, it’s dog-friendly, and it’s the kind of route you can do on a lazy Sunday morning without needing walking boots or a map. As the Inland Waterways Association puts it, this is “an excellent short and circular walk” through varied, rural countryside, which sums it up better than we could.

Practical bits:

• Start point: Moore Nature Reserve car park, off Moore Lane, WA4 6XE (postcode approximate for this rural spot), or start from the village itself near the Red Lion, WA4 6UD

• Distance: around 3.3 miles for the Moore Nature Reserve Circular loop

• Terrain: flat and easy, mixed woodland and gravel paths, can get muddy after rain so decent footwear is worth it

• Duration: around 1 hour 20 minutes

• Accessibility: mostly level going, but not officially a pushchair or wheelchair route given the mud and narrower sections

• Pub stop: The Red Lion at Moore, a two-minute walk from the canal towpath, dog-friendly with a dedicated dog-friendly area and a proper Sunday roast

👉 Route on AllTrails
🔗 Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington Borough Council

That’s it for this week.

Thanks for reading The Cheshire Buzz! See you next Thursday – same time, same inbox.