Despite living in Manchester for over 2 and a half years, it’s ridiculous how little I’ve ventured out of my local surrounding villages or the city centre it’s self. when I moved here I was determined to explore Manchester to it’s fullest, days off work, annual leave, free afternoons or evenings, I was going to really make the most of living here. Notice how I’m not talking like I’ve actually done that? Spoiler alert, I haven’t done that and I don’t quite know why.
After booking a week off work with the full intention of going to Prague or Milan or Paris or Budapest, even Edinburgh and Glasgow when I scaled the plans back a bit, I also ended up planning all the trips but not actually going through with it. Maybe I realised how much I actually needed a break to just relax and slow down, not that I haven’t mentally berated myself the whole week thinking I should be doing more with my time though. Clearly I don’t know how to relax without feeling guilty for it.
But one place I wanted to have a lazy morning in was Didsbury, so I got myself ready, shoved my iPad in my bag, my headphones planted on my head, my fully charged phone tucked into my pocket and set out to jump a couple of buses down there. In true me fashion, I kept thinking I’ll just walk to the next bus stop to kill time before the bus arrives and then an hour and twenty minutes later I found myself wandering into Didsbury village still on foot.
There were a few must-visit places on my list, although my travel lists always include lots of food places like I’m going to eat my way through the day and do nothing else (hilarious for someone who is so intent on calorie counting, make it make sense???). Please note, when I wrote this, I started checking Google Maps to see where some of the places on my list were as I hadn’t seen them on my visit, and then realised I’d only wandered around East Didsbury and not West Didsbury, but I’ll return there soon. Wow I’m really an idiot sometimes.
My first stop was a charity shop mooch, I’d read that the quality of the donations in these charities shops were top tier so I had to work my way through a bunch of them. I won’t lie, I was pretty disappointed, but maybe I’d just chosen the wrong day to browse, with that being said they’re still worth rummaging through to see if you can spot a good bargain. I came away with a Pinch of Nom recipe book that I’ve been meaning to buy for the longest time and for £3, what a winner!
Despite wanting so badly to try Picniq by La Chouquette for their highly acclaimed (and truly scrumptious looking if Instagram is to be believed) sandwiches, they don’t have a seating area and the day was turning overcast and a bit chilled making me feel less inclined to take a seat on an outside bench to enjoy it. I, however, could not pass up the chance to grab a coffee and see what all the mad fuss and hype was about their almond croissants at the La Chouquette bakery.
It’s a delight from the outside, but it doesn’t even come close to how life changing that croissant was. I’m not saying I’m a connoisseur on them, far from it, but I’ve had more than my fair share of them and can say without a doubt it’s the best one I’ve had. Potentially the best thing I’ve ever eaten (aside from the granola bowl at Pot Kettle Black I’ve just eaten writing this, exquisite). I took the croissant to go to enjoy at home and grabbed a pistachio syrup coffee for the walk back (sadly the drink wasn’t much to rave about but the show stopper was always going to be the food anyway). I can’t recommend this place highly enough, I was worried it might be another aesthetic Instagram hype, but no, it truly is worth the raving.
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Charity shop spots I visited
- Age UK
- Mind
- Oxfam
- Cancer Research
Other charity shops in Didsbury
- Sue Ryder
- Barnardos
Recommended food spots
- Picniq by La Chouquette (lunch spot)
- Hare & Kin (brunch/lunch)
- Domus Italia (lunch/dinner)
- Caramello (brunch/lunch/coffee)
Recommended coffee & sweet treat spots
- La Chouquette
- Levante
- GAIL’s (chain)
I guess now I need to scope out West Didsbury in the next few weeks!
Where are your fave Manchester spots to visit? Where should I be going next?
S xo