Bank Holiday Weekend

Four days to play with this weekend. Reggae legends at the Roodee, Pride taking over Knutsford, free jazz filling Congleton, and — because it wouldn't be a bank holiday without it — a field full of classic cars at Capesthorne on the Monday.

Kettle on. Here's the long weekend, sorted.

— Chris

One of the area's prettiest pubs is calling last orders.
The Hanging Gate Inn, the hilltop favourite above Higher Sutton, will close on 20 September after six years, its owners citing falling footfall, changed drinking habits and rising overheads. "In 2020 we had a dream to bring the Hanging Gate back to life… we just can't go on," they wrote. The site turns to guest accommodation — so this is the summer to get up there for a last pint and that view.
→ Macclesfield Nub News

Four flats proposed for the heart of Alderley Edge village.
An application's gone in to convert the upper floors of 28A and 28C London Road into four apartments, above the village-centre shops. A neat marker of how the high street keeps reshaping itself — one for anyone who watches what's changing on London Road.
→ AlderleyEdge.com

Fly-tipping fines jump to £5,000 from 1 September.
Cheshire East is sharply raising environmental penalties — up to £5,000 for the worst fly-tipping, and £150–£200 for littering. A useful nudge for homeowners: if someone's taking your garden or building waste away, check they hold a valid waste-carrier licence, or the fine can land on you.
→ Macclesfield Nub News

Friday 28 – Monday 31 August · Bank Holiday

🎪 Rory Gallagher Festival
Fri 28–Sun 30 · Nantwich Civic Hall · Fri £25 / weekend £80
The UK's premier tribute to the blues-rock legend — three days of live music in the heart of Nantwich. → Details

🎸 The Damn Truth + Crobot
7pm · The Live Rooms, Chester
Canadian classic-rock revivalists and US riff-merchants co-headline a bank-holiday-eve gig. → Details

The long weekend actually opens Thursday with The Bluetones at Cinemac, Macclesfield — Britpop veterans in an intimate room.

🏳️‍🌈 Knutsford Pride
Sat 29–Sun 30 · Dexter & Jones + The Moor, Knutsford
A free Family Picnic on The Moor (Sat, 12–5pm) with live music, the Drag Disco that night (8–11pm, £15), and a free Pride Brunch to close on Sunday. Knutsford at its warmest. → Details

🎷 Congleton Jazz & Blues Festival
Sat 29–Sun 30 · across the town · Free
Over 80 free-entry gigs turn 20-plus bars, cafés and gardens into stages for the weekend. No wristbands, no cover charge. → Details

🦕 Dino Fun World
Sat 29–Mon 31, from 11am · West Park, Macclesfield · from ~£3.50
Roaming giant dinosaurs, puppets, inflatables and live shows — the family draw of the weekend, right in a core-town park. → Details

🎪 Summer Country Fayre at the Farm
Sat 29–Mon 31 · Tatton Park, Knutsford
Falconry, circus skills, egg-and-spoon races and tug-of-war — traditional bank-holiday family fun on the estate. → Details

🕯️ The Music of Adele by Candlelight
7.30pm · Chester Cathedral · from ~£45
Adele's catalogue by candlelight in the cathedral nave. → Details

🍷 Knutsford Wine Fair by Linden Stores
12–9pm · Linden Stores, Knutsford · £30
A day of tastings with seasonal small plates and the winemakers in the room. → Details

🚗 Cheshire Classic Car & Motorcycle Show
Sun 30 & Mon 31, 10am–4pm · Capesthorne Hall · Hall extra £4/£1
400-plus vintage and classic vehicles a day, with trade stands, live music and food in the grand hall's grounds. → Details

🎬 Outdoor Cinema at Tatton
Beauty & the Beast 11.30am & Bohemian Rhapsody 6.45pm · Tatton Park, Knutsford
Two films under the stars — one for the children, one for the grown-ups. → Details

🛍️ Wilmslow Antiques, Vintage & Collectors Fair
9.30am–4pm · Wilmslow Leisure Centre · £2.50 (under-16s free)
Up to 80 tables of antiques and vintage to round off the long weekend. → Details

🎬 Outdoor Cinema at Tatton: Tangled
Gates 3pm, film 4pm · Tatton Park, Knutsford
The family film that closes the bank-holiday cinema run. → Details

🎶 The Courteeners — Live From Wythenshawe Park
Sat 29, gates 3pm · Manchester
A huge Manchester homecoming with The Vaccines and The Coral supporting. The Prodigy headline the same park on Sunday 30. → Details

🎧 Creamfields
Thu 27–Sun 30 · Daresbury, near Warrington
The UK's biggest dance festival, 20 years at its Cheshire home — one for the younger crowd (18+, camping), but it's on the doorstep. → Details

Under £500k · Whitchurch Road, Spurstow
£465,000 · 3 bed · 2 bath
A detached in the south-Cheshire lanes with a rare bit of upside: it's a comfortable 1,515 sq ft now, but comes with implemented planning consent to nearly double it to around 2,895 sq ft when you're ready. Open-plan kitchen-dining-family room, two en-suite doubles, and a superb walled garden behind automated gates. Buy the house, grow into it. → See the listing

£500k–£1m · Somerford, near Congleton
Offers over £650,000 · 4 bed · 2 bath
A fully renovated mews on the Somerford Hall Estate — move-in ready, in a private courtyard of just eight homes, with a south-facing garden and electric underfloor heating throughout. There's an equestrian centre on the doorstep and Congleton station under four miles away. Quiet, polished, and done. → See the listing

The Dream One · Long Lane, Chester
£1,150,000 · 5 bed · 5 bath
Five bedrooms, five bathrooms — and an indoor heated swimming pool with its own leisure suite. A contemporary detached with an open-plan kitchen and island, bi-fold doors onto the patio, solar panels on the pool house and a big lawned garden. It's currently a successful holiday let, so there's a business tucked inside the dream if you want one. → See the listing

See you out there.

Four days is a lot of weekend. Whether it's rum punch at the Roodee, a rug on the grass in Congleton, or a slow wander round Treacle Market with a coffee — make the most of it.

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— Chris, Cheshire Digest