New car-free travel options for visitors to RHS Garden Bridgewater
The first phase of RHS Greenway, a new traffic-free walking and cycling route to the garden, is now open
Express bus service available from Manchester city centre
Travel to RHS Bridgewater car-free and enjoy reduced-price entry
The first phase of RHS Greenway, a new traffic-free walking and cycling route is now open.
The Greenway provides a new traffic-free route along the north of the Bridgewater Canal linking Worsley and Boothstown to RHS Garden Bridgewater, enabling cyclists and walkers to enter the garden direct from the canal towpath.
The new route is part of a wider £3.2 million scheme which will provide 6.2km of new or upgraded walking and cycling routes linking the garden all the way through to Walkden train station. Due for completion by January 2022, the scheme will also create connections into the region’s wider walking and cycling network, helping to encourage active and healthier lifestyles. More details about the full scheme can be found at www.salford.gov.uk/rhs-walking-cycling. It has been developed in partnership with Salford City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), The Mayor’s Cycling and Walking Challenge Fund, Peel L&P, the Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club and Asa Homes.
Further expanding car-free travel options for visitors, RHS Bridgewater has teamed up with Swans Travel and Manchester Sightseeing Tours to offer an express bus service. The service runs from Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly train stations direct to the garden. Visitors can book combined return bus travel and reduced-price garden admission tickets direct from manchestersightseeingtours.com. Hundreds of additional tickets have been supplied to support the service which runs daily March-September, and up to five days a week in autumn and winter.
The RHS recently launched a new sustainability strategy and Planet-Friendly Gardening Campaign with the aim of encouraging climate-positive actions among the gardening public. Visitors who cycle, walk or use public transport to make their journey to RHS Bridgewater will receive a discount, with car-free travel tickets starting from just £7 (usual admission prices start from £11).
The 154-acre RHS Garden Bridgewater is the biggest hands-on horticultural project undertaken in Europe since planning permission was granted in 2017. Since the garden opened in May 2021 over 200,000 people have visited and more than 20,000 free tickets for Salford residents have been booked. Highlights of the garden include the Weston Walled Garden, the jewel in the crown of RHS Garden Bridgewater and home to the spectacular Paradise Garden by renowned landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith. The nearby Kitchen Garden by award-winning Harris Bugg Studio showcases a variety of productive growing techniques and both familiar and more unusual edibles and the 7 acre Woodland Play area makes it a great day out for families.
RHS Garden Bridgewater is made possible by Salford City Council and Peel Group. Salford City Council invested £19 million into the project which will bring substantial economic and tourism benefits to the city, its communities and the north-west region. Peel Group are custodians of the former Worsley New Hall estate where the garden has been created.