Priory Gardens

Sketch map: Priory Gardens

Priory Gardens is about five acres of woodland by the M60 South of Sale Water Park. It's the remains of an estate bequeathed to Sale Council in the 1920s. A lot of the trees were planted by the Victorian owners of the estate so the woodland's more mature than most in the area. There's a network of paths around the woods, those from the car park on Dane Road to the underpasses to Sale Water Park are pretty good, the rest vary quite a bit. The birdlife is what you'd expect in a suburban woodland, you've a fair chance of bumping into a willow tit or two, especially in Winter.

From Sale Water Park there are two approaches to Priory Gardens:

• The path on the Western side of the lake (effectively a continuation of the path down from Stretford Ees) carries on alongside the tram track under the M60, turns and joins the path running parallel to the motorway.

• There's an underpass near the car park by The Boathouse on the South shore of the lake that joins the same path from the other end.

The path running between Priory Gardens (left) and the motorway.

The Manchester to Altrincham tram stops at Dane Road Station, turn right as you leave the station and walk down a hundred yards or so and you'll get to one of the entrances to Priory Gardens. The 18 bus, running between the Trafford Centre and Manchester Airport, stops by the car park entrance. The path from the car park leads to the path that runs parallel to the motorway.

Priory Gardens

These main paths skirt the edges of the woodland, the smaller paths coming off them let you explore the area properly. It can be a good hour or two's wander, particularly on a dry day in early Spring.