
National Trust summer events: All you need to know
Greater Manchester
Dunham Massey in Altrincham has a plethora of events until 7 September with themed activities every day of the week until 31 August including arts and crafts, circus skills and storytelling.Climb and clamber over the Log Pile natural play area and spot fallow deer roaming the parkland. For a moment of quieter imagination, head inside the house and follow Speechly's grand tour.Lyme Park, on the edge of the Peak District, has activities running through until 7 September.Inside Lyme House visitors can play with shadow puppets and recreate the Egyptian adventures of Thomas Legh, an explorer who lived at at the mansion. At the Boiler House, people can attend the Riverlands Silent Pond Disco, curl up with a book in the reading corner and play nature-themed board games.
Cheshire
Hare Hill in Macclesfield is holding events until 31 August.Its tranquil wooded garden is perfect for kids to explore without crowds. Inside the walled garden people can find picnic spots and a big lawn for little ones to explore or see what wildlife can be spotted on the flat, pushchair-friendly paths.The Quarry Bank in Wilmslow has events until 1 SeptemberIt has a new indoor play hub with soft play, giant board games, fancy dress and a stage as well as traditional games and crafts.Meanwhile, outside there is a maze featuring loose parts where children can build their own adventure, alongside nature bingo.
Merseyside
Speke Hall in Liverpool starts its schedule of family-friendly activities on Monday which will run until 31 August.Find games galore in the grounds of the Tudor manor house - from mud pie-making to running races, building and creating, or getting cosy with a good book from the second-hand bookshop.Explore the historic grounds, let imaginations run wild in the accessible gated play area, build dens in the woodland, or zoom through the air on the zipwire. There is also a sensory resource station in the visitor centre to enjoy fidget toys, ear defenders and other sensory items.
Lancashire
The Tudor Rufford Old Hall near Ormskirk is staging events until1 September.From exploring the garden in style on a balance-bike to spotting wildlife on the canal, there is plenty of room to let imaginations run free.Visitors can also enjoy an abundance of garden games and self-led activities. Or head to the Orchard Paddock and take part in free sports activities including cricket, rounders, tennis and croquet. Meanwhile, from the Coach House people can collect sports day kit boxes which include instructions, skipping ropes, hula hoops, race markers, beanbags and more.
Is it free?
While admission charges apply to the trust's sites there is free entry for under fives, carers and National Trust members and no additional charges for Summer of Play events.
Read more stories from Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Oasis fans spot 'problem' with reunion tour drinks prices as band heads to Wembley
Prices of drinks at the Oasis reunion gigs at Wembley Stadium have shown how much a fan will have to pay if they are looking for a pint Fans hoping to have a drink at Oasis first set of London gigs in 16 years could be in for a pricey night. The Mancunian band has headed to England's capital and took to the stage on night two of the five sell-out Wembley Stadium shows, but it appears as the the cost of alcohol is on the rise. Following successful shows in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester, Noel and Liam Gallagher are putting on a number of show sfor the London followers. But it appears the price of a pint is steeper than anywhere else to date. It will set a fan back £8.30 for a pint, with Wembley offering up a choice of Goose Island Midway Session IPA or Camden Pale Ale. Their pint price of £8.30 makes them the most expensive at all the venues so far. For those looking for a canned option ,Stella Artois 440ml options are available for a £7.99. Kopparberg's Apple flavour is also available for the same price. Get Oasis updates straight to your WhatsApp! As the hotly anticipated Oasis reunion tour grows closer, the Mirror has launched its very own Oasis WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest news on the Gallagher brothers and all the information you'll need in the run up to the gigs. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Outside of the venue, the fan park at BoxPark Wembley was serving up a number of themed cocktails, with drinks including Wonderwall and Morning Glory being concocted. Despite the hefty price tags, fans gathered in their droves for the latest in the sell-out tour. The group took to the Wembley stage with euphoric fans cheering. As usual, Liam donned his Parker jacket with maracas in hand. On the first night in the capital, Oasis paid an emotional tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. The group dedicated Live Forever to the Black Sabbath icon, following the legend's death aged 76 on Tuesday. The band, led by Noel and Liam Gallagher, had previously dedicated Live Forever to Liverpool's Diogo Jota at their Cardiff shows when the tour kicked off. In the final moments of the song in Cardiff, the giant screens on stage showed a huge number 20 on the Liverpool player's shirt. The moment raised emotions and drew cheers and applause among the onlooking fans in the stadium. This time around, they paid their respects to Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy. The band dedicated Live Forever to him at Wembley during the opening show at the venue which caused cheers and applause from the crowd. A black and white image of Ozzy showed on the screen during the track. At the end of the song, Liam said: "That one was dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne, a Rock N Roll Star." He then launched into Rock N Roll Star. The touching tribute came days after Ozzy's family announced he had died in statement on Tuesday. The news shocked the world of music, especially as it came just ove r two weeks after the Back To The Beginning show held by the Osbournes at his Villa Park. viagogo and resale tickets Sites such as viagogo, Stubhub, and Vivid Seats allow fans to buy resale tickets from other fans. However, it is important to note that ticket conditions often prohibit resale after initial purchase. Those tickets may not be valid for admittance to gigs. Fans intending to buy tickets for live events through resale websites should check the ticket terms and conditions, to confirm whether resale is prohibited, before they buy. Ticket terms and conditions can be checked with the original seller, such as Ticketmaster or Live Nation. If resale is prohibited, tickets bought second-hand could be voided and admission to the event refused.


BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
'Fantasist' promised music stars for festival that never happened
It boasted a line-up of bands including The Killers, Pulp, Def Leppard, Wet Leg and The 45,000 capacity three-day event was due to be held this August bank holiday and was billed as the world's first hydrogen-powered music there was a snag: It was based on lies.A BBC News investigation has uncovered how "fantasist" and convicted fraudster James Kenny planned a make-believe festival from his elderly mum's kitchen that pulled Glastonbury headliners, Hollywood stars and even a country's government into its we tracked Mr Kenny down he insisted he intended for the festival to go ahead, adding he was "truly sorry" to those who had lost money. Many we've spoken to say the festival industry is brimming with characters like Mr Kenny, full of big ideas and grand plans. So when the bar manager who ran hotels and a nightclub in Liverpool pitched a multi-million pound festival bigger than Latitude, claiming funding from investors such as the co-founder of restaurant chain Leon John Vincent, industry insiders thought he might just be able to pull it as time went on, employees and suppliers who had been "100% convinced" told us they then started to question if it was real. "It was a festival made of paper," one former employee said."Everything kind of unravelled and I realised it doesn't exist for anybody else but him."Some now believe Mr Kenny never intended for his ambitious festival to happen - deposits weren't paid for bands, licence applications were never made and investors he claimed to be talking to say they have never heard of how did a festival built on lies get so far?Monmouth Rising was due to be held on a leafy showground outside the Welsh border town - a space more used to hosting Saturday morning car boot sales than festivals with five literature boasted affordable tickets, cashless payments and a "commitment to inclusivity" with no VIP areas. At a packed town hall meeting in February, the 47-year-old showed detailed site maps he claimed had been designed with the same software used to plan the Paris Radio Wales would broadcast the festival live and a cannon would even fire bacon butties into the campsite in the mornings, or so he claimed. He told prospective employees that investors included "one of the founders of Creamfields" and said an economic impact assessment from the Welsh government showed the festival would bring £28.9m into the industry insider said: "I have worked in the industry for 20 years and it is really, really unheard of to do a festival that big for the first time."The man, who supplied services for the festival and didn't want to be named for fear of missing out on future jobs, added: "It's embarrassing [that I believed him], but in this industry you want someone to be a bit crazy." Idris Elba DJ sets Employees and suppliers talk of a secretive culture Mr Kenny built up: Headline acts weren't being announced and no-one knew how many tickets had been producer Chris Whitehouse was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement before creating a soundtrack for the festival's advert to be "voiced" by Idris Elba, who - he was told by Mr Kenny - would also DJ at the festival alongside dance headliners Groove Armada and Whigfield. But Chris said things didn't add up."These guys apparently have an £8m budget to do this music festival and he looks like he's just walked out of Wetherspoons," he hasn't been paid for his work and has issued court proceedings against Mr Kenny for breach of agent said there was, "no record of Idris doing anything for this man" and Groove Armada and Whigfield said they were never booked. Genevieve Barker is one of the few people Mr Kenny let into these secretive conversations."He'd say 'oh my gosh we've got this band, but don't tell anyone'," she spent time raising her five children, the marketing and events specialist in Monmouth felt "lovebombed" into leaving her job to be head of partnerships for the festival."I'd spent the best part of 16 years raising children," she said. "If you've always been working part time or a stay-at-home parent, this was the career move of a lifetime."She said the "larger than life" businessman offered her more money than she'd ever made, as well as a pension and private dental and healthcare cover for her after she started working for the festival, she said it was, "like a toxic relationship".She added: "He made us feel really special, dangled a couple of carrots, but then isolated us. He never encouraged us to talk as a group unless he was there." Another Monmouth Rising employee works for festivals over the summer. As a part-time carer she said she jumped at the chance for a longer-term gig working from does not want to be named for fear of not getting work in a struggling industry that is "already difficult for older women".She says that a 10-minute job interview saw Mr Kenny run through "loads of bands that he was in talks with, so fast that I couldn't write them down. Then he said yes to everything I asked for". Various suppliers also told us they provided thousands of pounds worth of work and were promised thousands more in future. The BBC has seen WhatsApp chats where Monmouth Rising's employees spoke excitedly about the out of the blue in late February, a new message appeared. "Where is our pay?"Employees had woken up to find they had not received their first pay festival's website was down and they couldn't access work emails. The Loyalty Co founder Adam Purslow said his firm built the website at a cut-price rate for his "serial entrepreneur" friend Mr numerous requests for payment, Adam pulled the website when his team were presented with a "fishy" looking document as proof of incoming funding."All the suppliers started to question how genuine that whole thing was," he like Genevieve had mortgages, rent and nursery bills to pay. In response to her desperate appeals, Mr Kenny sent her videos, filmed in his mum's home where he was living, claiming he was "literally just waiting" for money to come in. BBC Wales has discovered this money Mr Kenny was promising was a £90,000 cash advance, known as invoice funding. But it was turned down because it failed due diligence was because an invoice from train company GWR, which Mr Kenny handed over as proof of incoming funds, was flagged as a potential said it was unable to match the invoice to its records and "immediately reported" its suspicions to British Transport is not the only alleged forged document Mr Kenny appears to have relied Kenny previously tried and failed to deliver a city-wide cocktail festival and a similar pattern of promises and alleged forgeries followed in its wake. In 2021 he started working for Kate and James, a couple who ran a cocktail bar in Chester and did backstage catering for celebrity-packed events such as the National Television Awards (NTAs).The couple, who now live in Morocco, said Mr Kenny "always liked shiny things" and was excited when they invited him to work at the NTAs, although "the reality is, it's hard work and you're just clearing up after famous people, rather than ordinary people".Kate said Mr Kenny also told them he had dated a famous actress and TV presenter after meeting her at a hotel bar he ran in Liverpool, despite there being no suggestion he had."We then found out he had been telling people he runs the NTA party," said Kate."We felt sorry for him."Kate said Mr Kenny always knew the "right name to drop" and persuaded the couple to invest with him in a new Liverpool Cocktail his money he promised wasn't forthcoming and the event never happened, leaving the couple £20,000 out of pocket. In an attempt to explain the delay in paying up, Mr Kenny presented the couple with a £40,000 loan agreement from Metro Bank.A month later when that money didn't materialise, he shared a letter from the same bank saying his account had been erroneously suspended for potential fraudulent loan offer had inexplicably risen to £75,000 and it referenced another £35,000 from an investor in couple confronted Mr Kenny in a phone call, but said he never paid them. It wasn't the last time Mr Kenny claimed funds were coming from someone in Mr Purslow asked for payment this year, Mr Kenny sent a screenshot, seen by the BBC, of an international money transfer for £200,000 from a bank in Malta, but the name was we asked the bank about the document, it said it was "not legitimate".We also contacted the people Mr Kenny said he had been speaking to about investing in the Vincent said he had never met him while two of the original Creamfields founders and current owners all said they had never heard of Welsh government said it had never done an economic impact Killers and Def Leppard said they had never been asked to perform. We have yet to hear back from The Libertines, Wet Leg and Pulp. Other bands said they had been asked, but deposits were never paid. With six months to go until the festival, Monmouth Rising looked to be said, with traders asking for their money back, she felt "morally obliged" to challenge Mr Kenny but he would not on 6 March, he posted an open letter on social media cancelling the festival because, he said, it was "no longer viable" but still hoped it would run in said all ticket holders and vendors would receive refunds but BBC Wales has been told only 24 people had bought tickets and all were refunded because their payments had been held by the ticketing traders we spoke to said they were yet to get their deposits back. Monmouth Rising would have cost millions to pull off from a standing start. The company due to provide the festival with hydrogen power said it entered into a commercial supply agreement but no work had been done. BBC Wales said it had never been approached to broadcast from the have also found - far from being software used to plan the Paris Olympics - the site plan was drawn up using an online app offering free and employees, including Mr Whitehouse, Mr Purslow and Ms Barker said they were thousands of pounds out of pocket and attempts to start legal proceedings against Mr Kenny stalled after he cancelled his phone number and moved woman who had the 10-minute interview said she was left penniless and unable to claim Universal Credit for months because HMRC thought she had been paid. We tracked down Mr Kenny on his new phone number in order to put these allegations to said the line-up was real and he spent a year working on Monmouth Rising, adding it was "the only thing I focused on".He indicated he did pay some employees and said those who lost money could contact him directly, adding he has "never hidden away from anything".He wouldn't tell us where he's now living or answer our questions about the alleged forgeries, or the investors he claimed he had, and asked us to email him with our questions didn't respond to those questions in detail, but in a statement he said his "sole motivation" was to create something meaningful and that it came at personal cost to his health and said it fell apart when he realised he wouldn't be able to get permission for an event of that size at Monmouth Showground. Monmouthshire council told us, in the 12 months he claimed he spent planning the festival, he only had one meeting with added that he was truly repentant, promising directly to those affected: "I will repay you." Questions are now being asked about how this was able to progress as far as it Kenny is a named director of dozens of small companies under different versions of his name, leaving £27,000 in unpaid County Court Judgements behind 2008, he was convicted of two counts of fraud for forging his wife's signature to obtain a mortgage payment to clear £15,000 worth of can know what motivated Mr Kenny to build a festival based on lies, but very few of those we have spoken to believe Monmouth Rising would ever have worked. Genevieve, who is still owed £5,000 and has only just got another job, said she thinks Mr Kenny is "a fantasist and a narcissist"."I mean, this was meant to be a multi-million pound event and he set up his office at his mother's kitchen table," she said."He fooled all of us." Additional reporting by Charlie O'Keeffe


Scottish Sun
5 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Loris Karius lifts lid on relationship with Diletta Leotta after she revealed moment he locked himself in her room
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LORIS KARIUS has spilled the beans on his glam romance with TV stunner Diletta Leotta. The ex-Liverpool goalkeeper explained the difficulties of living miles apart from his wife and how he's able to make up for his absence. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 11 Loris Karius lifts lid on relationship with Diletta Leotta after she revealed moment he locked himself in her room Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 Karius has a daughter with stunning wife Diletta Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 Karius says his wife is more famous than he is on the streets of Milan Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta Karius, best remembered for that Champions League final meltdown against Real Madrid, has swapped Anfield heartache for happily-ever-after with Italian stunner Diletta, 33, who fronts the footie on DAZN. The pair first met in 2022, welcomed baby Aria in 2023 and tied the knot in a plush 2024 bash straight out of a fairy tale. But it's not all roses and romance, they're juggling marriage and parenthood from different countries. Karius now plays for German Bundesliga two side Schalke after leaving Newcastle while Diletta's continues her DAZN gig in Milan. But according to the goalkeeper his wife loves it and creates an atmoshphere where its right for them to feel the love even from a distance. He told Sport Bild: 'Diletta even advised me to extend at Schalke. "She thinks the club is great and she likes everything she has seen here so far. "Diletta also thinks that royal blue is the perfect choice for my sporting success. She is fully behind this decision." BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK Karius however admits it's tough not seeing little Aria every day but FaceTime is saving the day. He added: 'But of course it's hard for me when I can't see my little daughter Aria for days. Glamorous sports presenter Diletta Leotta shocks in full see-through outfit as she leaves little to imagination "But that's what FaceTime is for and we see each other regularly - as often as possible." The 32-year-old goalkeeper also admitted he's open to a second child even though he's not planned anything yet. He added: "We would love to have a second child, we don't know when yet and nothing concrete is planned so far." The goalie also revealed that his missus is the real celeb in the family – especially in Milan. He added: 'She gets recognised more than me. She's a superstar over there.' But Karius wasn't quite ready for the full Italian family welcome. On meeting Diletta's clan in noisy Sicily, he fled the lunch table and locked himself in the bedroom for a lie-down. His wife Dilette revealed on a podcast: 'He was shattered by life, bless him. 'He said, Please stop, I need a break. "He went upstairs to his room locked himself in and threw himself on the bed destroyed by life." Since his Liverpool nightmare, Karius has done the rounds – Besiktas, Union Berlin, Newcastle and now Schalke in Germany's second tier, where he just signed a deal until 2027. 11 Diletta Leotta is one of DAZN top footie presenters Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 She was in the U.S working during the just ended Club World Cup Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 Every now and then she'd drop a stunning photo on her Instagram page for her followers Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 The presenter first met Karious in 2022 and now they have a daughter Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 Diletta admits Karius couldn't handle meeting her family for the first time Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 She's happy to stay in Milan while her husband stays in Gelsenkirchen playing for Schalke Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta 11 Italian television presenter and model, married to German professional footballer Loris Karius Credit: Instagram / @dilettaleotta