In Manchester you can shop till you drop and party hard with a plethora of footballers and soap stars. A branch of Harvey Nicks recently opened in Manchester and both ITV's Cold Feet and the BBC's Cutting It have been filmed in the city. Lucky for us, the whathouse.co.uk editorial team were prised away from their London desks to sample Machester's high life.
Our home for the night
On arriving at the bustling Manchester Piccadilly station, we were met by our chauffeur Andrew, who whisked us through the city to The Lock - Dandara's 154-property development. Standing at 11 floors, The Lock is an impressive building towering over the city and comprising a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as eight three-bedroom penthouses.
Following a quick tour of the split-level penthouse and a chance to unpack, it was off to lunch at the River Restaurant in the Lowry Hotel, which has played host to such stars as Kylie Minogue and Madonna. We then called on our chauffeur again to navigate us through the city and back to the penthouse.
We slipped into fluffy white robes in preparation for beauty treatments from R3 Holistic Therapies. The therapists arrived at the penthouse and turned the first-floor open-plan living/dining area complete with floor-to-ceiling windows into a therapy room, where we spent a blissful hour experiencing massage and reiki.
The life of luxury delivered to our door
Not long after the therapists left, we had morevisitors. This time it was chef Steve Groom and his wife Julie, who were there to whip up a fantastic feast in the state-of-the-art kitchen while we concentrated on the important task of getting ready. Mark McKay and Anita Jolley, investment sales managers at Dandara, joined us for dinner along with Paul Patton and Fiona Guy of Impact Media PR. A traditional Mancunian meal of beef, black pudding and Manchester tart was washed down with plenty of champagne.
Machester: the party place
Panacea, an exclusive cocktail bar in the heart of Manchester, was our next destination, to drink and dance the night away. As Friday night turned into Saturday morning, we hailed a taxi back to the penthouse to rest our weary feet.
I retired to the master bedroom, which also features floor-to-ceiling windows and an en suite bathroom complete with shower. My colleague plumped for the second bedroom, decorated in monochrome and accessorised with a huge mirror and a mirrored cabinet.
The perfect wake-up call
To ease ourselves into Saturday morning we made full use of the Jacuzzi spa bath in the main bathroom before enjoying a breakfast of coffee and croissants. We cast one final lingering look around the property and hailed a taxi to the station for our journey home. The Lock penthouse is perfect for anyone experiencing Manchester's high life and we certainly enjoyed our taster. A number of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments as well as four penthouses remain for sale, priced from £159,950.
Useful Contacts
The Lock - Dandara
The Lowry Hotel
R3 Holistic Therapies
Panacea