NORTHERN POWERHOUSE

We’remad formanchester. Here are three reasons to visit now!

The grass is greener. The City of Trees movement, which aims to plant a tree for every person in the city (that’s three million) over the next 25 years, is now well underway (cityoftrees.org.uk). There are newhot hotels. Top of the mini-breaker’s list should be The Principal (right): a gloriousgothic revival building designed in 1891 by architect Alfredwaterhouse (also the brains behind London’snaturalhistory Museum). It has been transformed by 3D Reid Architects and interior designer Michaelis Boyd, but the original Victorian tiling remains, as does the domed stained-glass ceiling above the lobby (doubles from£119 per night; theprincipalhotel.com). Meanwhile, on the riverside is five-star The Lowry, housed in a vast glass building. It has a clutch of extremely chic newly refreshed suites (right) by interiors practice Arney Fenderkatsalidis. Expect to find lighting by Flos and Santa & Cole, fabrics byrubelli and abstract artworks bymancunian painter Alanrankle (doubles from£169 per night; thelowryhotel.com). It’s bloomtime at thewhitworth. There’s no bettermonth to check out thegrowproject at thewhitworthmuseum(far right). Wander around The Art Garden in the gallery’s grounds. Funded by sales of Jo Malone’s charity candle, the lovely ‘Peony & Moss’ (£46; jomalone.co.uk), it has been designed to celebrate texture, colour and scent, and plays host to a programme of wellness events (whitworth.manchester.ac.uk).