Rivington is a quirky little place. It’s right in the sprawling suburbs of Manchester and is THE walking destination for city families on a weekend. Rivington Pike is a small tower, placed on top of Rivington with views over Manchester. Rivington is also home to the Victorian Terraced Gardens – an enchanting series of Japanese bridges, waterfalls and ponds built for entertaining guests hundreds of years ago! The best bit is that Rivington has a network of bridleways and so all of this is open to horse riders!
Route Description
Rivington has a large network of bridleways criss crossing through it, so many that you can make an infinite number of routes. Explore to your hearts content! Instead of specific route descriptions, I’ve included numbered highlights to guide your explorations.
1. The best parking spot.
2. This is the bridleway passing through the terraced gardens
3. The sheep fields going up to Rivington Pike – perfect for a steep uphill canter to be rewarded with views over to Manchester
4. The ice cream van is usually parked up here!
5. The Castle ruins. These sadly aren’t a ‘real’ castle but a Victorian replica, as was fashionable at the time. Still worth a visit because most of the walls remain
Parking
There is free parking along the X shaped roads leading up to Rivington Hall Barn. This is unsurfaced and used frequently by horse riders. Use the W3W at the top for the best spot in the photo. This allows you to drive in and drive back out without having to turn.
