Castlefield
Potato Wharf
Lancashire
Castlefield is a fascinating area of central Manchester, just south of Deansgate -so much so that the area has been designated Britain's first Urban Heritage Park.
It is notable both for its historic buildings and warehouses and for the astonishing array of canal wharves and quays in Giant's Basin and Castle Quays - which have been spruced up very nicely with a whole host of restaurants and bars, such as Barca, owned by none less than Simply Red's Mick Hucknall.
For more budget tastes, the city's Youth Hostel is situated in a converted old warehouse here. And the history isn't entirely industrial - there are significant Roman remains here, too.
The basins mark the end of the trans-Pennine Rochdale Canal, and the beginning of the Bridgewater Canal towards Liverpool. Just to the west along the canal is the site of Hulme Lock, which once made passage possible to the Manchester Ship Canal. Within a stone's throw of Giant's Basin there is the Museum of Science & Industry and the Air & Space Museum.
Local attractions
Castlefield is also less than a mile from Manchester city centre, with all its shopping, leisure and cultural amenities - including Manchester City Art Gallery (0161 235 8888), The Whitworth Art Gallery (0161 275 7450), The Athenaeum, and Cube (0161 237 5525).
Two miles away is Salford Quays, the self-styled 'leisure capital of the northwest' where you will find The Lowry art gallery (named Building of the Year 2001) and museums including the Manchester United Experience and the Imperial War Museum North (0870 220 3435), other attractions include Daytona Karting, Salford Watersports Centre (0161 877 7252), the vast 80-store Designer Outlet discount fashion complex (0161 848 1832), restaurants, five hotels, a multiplex cinema and a health club. Lancashire County Cricket Ground and Ordsall Hall Tudor manor house are also about the same distance away.
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