This charming town full of characters is 'the place to be right now'

Spend enough time in Bollington and you soon realise everything is connected.

The small but bustling Cheshire town is nestled in the foothills of the Pennine range and is a gateway to the Peak District National Park.

Situated just above the Cheshire Plains, Bollington is three miles north of Macclesfield and 18 miles southeast of Manchester. Home to around 8,000, it is bisected by the canal and the former railway - now the Middlewood Way.

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Well known for its crop of independent shops, buzzing pubs and easy access to the beautiful countryside that surrounds it, there's an undeniable charm about the place and a strong sense of community that fuses together old and new.

Bollington was once home to the biggest water wheel in England and only second in Britain to the Isle of Man's Laxey wheel. The wheel powered a number of mills for the production of cotton, and by 1914 it had a population of around 6,000 people and was known for its fine cotton spinning.

It boomed in the 18th and 19th Century during the Industrial Revolution, when it developed as a centre for cotton mills, quarries and coal mines. When the Macclesfield Canal opened in the 1830s this brought further fortune to the wider area.

While its past was shaped by the mills and industry, today, the area is referred to by residents as the ‘Happy Valley’, and is busy with residents and visitors mooching about the shops, stopping off for a coffee or taking in a number of local landmarks.

Even as the autumnal weather sets in, you'll still find locals and tourists making the trip up to White Nancy, a small white cone-like structure which stands alone on top of a hill overlooking Bollington. Built by the Gaskell family early in the 19th century as a monument to the Battle of Waterloo, it has become the symbol of the town - and a landmark many flock to.

Down at street level, the grim October weather hasn't put customers visiting one of the town's oldest businesses. Next year Belfields Village Bakery on Palmerston Street, which connects the two commercial centres of the town, will celebrate 60 years in business.

Its owner Anne Belfield has been at the helm since the very start, from when it first opened on Church Street before moving to its current spot. Famed for her homemade pies and sweet buns and cakes, she's been up since the early hours baking, but ask her about the town she calls home and she is positively buoyant.

“Everybody here is happy, we all help and look after each other, it is a proper community," she beams, whilst filling up the counter with egg custards and Bakewell tart slices.

"If something is going on we’ll all pull together, even in weather like this we’ll still come out.”

While businesses have come and gone over the years, Anne says it's retained its strong sense of community, even with new arrivals.

“We’ve got a lot of new people, younger people who have started moving here and they love it, because it’s so friendly and everyone speaks to one another. You walk down the street here and you might not know anyone but I guarantee you that someone will strike up a conversation with you and will get to know you.”

While its just a few minutes away from Macclesfield and a selection of high street chains, she insists there's more than enough in the village in terms of shops and services.

"You can do your Saturday morning shopping around Bollington easily, you don’t need to go to the big supermarkets.

"It’s mostly local and from surrounding towns that visit me. You want to come at dinner time though when I get busy. I can have the shop in an uproar - they might come in miserable but by God they always leave happy."

It's Anne's meat and potato pies that keep punters coming too. "While you were sleeping I was up at half past 12 making them, and there’s an extra four trays to put out too. People also love our Suzanne’s lemon buns - she’s a dab hand at those."

The meat for the much-loved pies comes from just down the road, from another local business that's been in Bollington for hundreds of years.

Founded by Jonathan James Jackson Heathcote, the traditional family butchers is part of the furniture in Bollington, selling meats, cheeses and other fresh farm produce from Cheshire and Derbyshire farms.

While at one point they had four stores - including two in Bollington - as well as an abattoir - they now have just the one on Palmerston Road. It's here that Jeremy, one of his great grandchildren carries on the family tradition at Heathcote's.

"Bollington is a smashing place, it's buzzing at the moment," he smiles, whilst staff around carry thick cuts of meats past him and into the fridges beyond.

"We’re lucky because we can look up the road and we see the Peak District, Or, we can get on the train and get to Manchester in 15 minutes and we can even get to London in an hour and three quarters. Then Manchester Airport is only minutes away with the new relief road too.

"I would say 80% of our customers aren’t from Bollington originally, they’ve moved into the area. Some relocated with BBC or AstraZeneca in Macclesfield - it’s a nice place to live.

"The nightlife at weekends is really good, we’ve got some cracking restaurants like The Lime tree, Tapa and Kira Bistro. There's also The Green, no. 74 Delicatessen and of course, Mrs Bellfield over at the bakery and the bakery opposite."

Jeremy says the sense of community is built on by the number of clubs, societies and events in the town too with popular cricket and football clubs bringing spectators out, plus a number of walking groups and festivals and upcoming Autumn Concert at the Bollington Arts Centre.

As he admits though, things have changed over the years, and the more traditional businesses like butchers, bakers and pubs are thinning out.

"We still do have butchers here in Bollington but at one stage there were six, as well as 36 pubs because we had a lot of mills, and now there's only two mills left now.

"We’ve lost a few pubs but the ones that are left, The Poachers Inn, Holly Bush and community pub the Vale Inn are all good, plus all the rest too."

Of those new businesses catering for newer arrivals, particularly younger couples and families is Knowles Green, which is located further down the road towards Macclesfield.

The specialist wine and cheese retailer was set up by experts Dagmara Sztompka and Mark Dent in 2020, and while representing something a little different for the town, it has become popular since joining the fold of local businesses.

The business partners, from Poland and Canada respectively, used to work at a wine bar in Manchester city centre back in 2008 but just before the pandemic, when Dagmara was considering moving to Bollington, they hatched a plan to combine their knowledge and years of experience in wine and cheese to open up in the town.

"This space we're in now used to be Heathcote's other shop in the town," says Mark, explaining how when they took on the unit it was much smaller and only fit around two customers at a time.

Now they've extended it into a full retail space stocking a range of wine, cheeses, deli items and hampers. There's also a number of tables and chairs, meaning in the evening they are able to turn into a wine bar.

"We’re fortunate here to have a lot of support from the community," explains Mark.

"It was our skill set for starters that made us think we could do it. Dagmara has a diploma in wine, she's also a cheesemaker and has worked with top restaurants. My background is in catering too, and I'm a trained sommelier and international wine judge."

Dagmara elaborates that the second reason was that Bollington is the "place to be right now, too", and their shop has become a popular stop-off for families after school, but also parents who want a glass or two in the evenings.

"It's a bit like Didsbury or Wilmslow, lots of young families moving here," she says.

"It's actually hard to get a house here now because it's so in demand."

"Interestingly, a lady who visits often recently told me that when we opened some her friends said it 'wouldn't work' and she told them it would," adds Mark.

"I think in a way the town is transitioning and transforming, it's becoming more cosmopolitan.

"We love it here. I think it’s natural beauty draws people here, and it feels safe and the community is really warm."

Dagmara, who settled in the town with her son, agrees. "There's a real community spirit, plus good schools, and as I have a young child too, it's good that all the parents get together. I have friends in Manchester and Liverpool and they say that they don’t get that sense of community."