Trips & Adventures – 19 September 2019

We walked down the main high street in the village of Alderley, which is 15 miles south of Manchester, heading for the award winning Foster’s Chippy, but stopping at a couple of the charity shops on the way. We marvelled at the quality of the items on sale, which were quite exclusive.

Alderley Edge is known for its affluence and expensive houses, and has a selection of cafes and designer shops which has attracted numerous Premier League footballers (including David Beckham), actors and multi-millionaire businesspeople. It is one of the most expensive and sought-after places to live in the UK outside central London. We spotted Rolls Royce and Bentley convertibles with personalised number plates: “1 LET'” and “HAV 1T”. The Daily Mirror once referred to Alderley as “the fake tan capital of Britain”.

However, the chippy offers a very reasonable fish, chips, mushy peas and a drink for £9.00. It’s a simple but smart restaurant and we were amused by the slogans that the staff had on their t-shirts: “50 Shades of Gravy”; “Definately Gravy”; and “I Believe I Can Fry”.

One member of our group had a relative who had smashed the record in the Guinness Book of Records for eating the most fish and chips. It was either that or eating the most smarties in one minute blindfolded using chopsticks. I might have misheard.

There is very limited public transport in the village and we had no alternative but to take a taxi to Alderley Edge, which is the area’s chief topographical feature and overlooks the Cheshire Plain.

The view from the Edge and the woodland walk were magnificent which we thoroughly enjoyed. We ended up in the Wizard’s Tea Rooms for teas and coffees. We had to walk back about three miles back to the train station, but at least most of it was downhill.