Dutch go off the rails in Manchester

On a particularly glorious day in late July, one of our team played host to a lovely couple from Gouda in The Netherlands. They run a website dedicated to rail journeys www.reizen-met-de-trein.nl. The new Cultural Rover Transpennine rail ticket piqued their interest and they decided to try out the route taking in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Hull, as part of the #citiesofnorthengland programme (which we’ve previously worked on). So we crafted a bespoke itinerary for the first time visitors and made sure to include heritage, culture, food & drink and of course railways.

We kicked off with a tour of The Whitworth and lunch overlooking the park, followed by a behind the scenes tour of John Rylands Library and a walking tour with leading local tour guide Jonathan Schofield taking in railway locations, historic facts with plenty of his trademark humorous delivery. The evening featured drinks and a sumptuous meal at the Refuge restaurant before going to see Manchester International Festival’s Fatherland at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

If you can read Dutch then click through to their site to read a review of their trip (or just have a look at the images)!