Quarry Bank Mill and Garden (NT)

Quarry Bank Mill is one of the best preserved textile mills of the industrial revolution and tells the story of mill workers, entrepreneurs and how the industrial revolution changed the world.

Watch hand spinners at work, experience the clatter of machinery and the hiss of steam enigines and marvel at Europe's most pwoerful water wheel.

Take the kids back in time to an era when children were to be seen and not heard by visiting the evocative Apprentice House, which housed the child labourers who worked in the mill.

Quarry Bank Mill also has delightful gardens, and as part of Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ‘08, The National Trust opened the Secret Garden at Quarry Bank for the first time.

Restored to its former glory, this unique 18th century garden contains fine displays of rhododendron and other spring blooms and has delightful vistas, with the River Bollin running through the valley.

Riverside walks, meandering paths and raised beds are some of the features that have been rediscovered during restoration work, reflecting the ‘picturesque’ style of the original design.