RHS Garden Bridgewater invites you on a supersized family adventure this Easter holiday as The Giant Easter Egg Hunt returns 29 March to 14 April – try and find all the larger-than-life eggs hidden around the garden or have a go at fun planting and craft activities for the whole family. And if you’d prefer a trip without the wee ones, chill out with a coffee and cake in one of the cafes, or head to the garden centre for some treats to brighten up your own outdoor spaces.

Let’s be real, for most of us bank holidays are synonymous with getting a little loose. And one of our favourite places to do that is Finders Keepers, a small but perfectly formed cocktail bar by the waterfront in New Islington Marina. With doctorate-level mixologists behind the bar, you’ll find some of the most intriguing and exciting flavour combinations in Manchester right here.

Need something to soak up the cocktails? With impeccable resurrection-based timing, the much-missed Northern Quarter ramen bar and restaurant, Cocktail Beer Ramen + Bun, lives again this Easter weekend, with a kitchen takeover of New Wave Ramen on Sunday 31 March.

Where better to kick back and while away some of those extra hours off than an Alice In Wonderland-themed gaff that features an Easter icon in the form of the White Rabbit, and serves up dainty afternoon teas and perfectly crafted cocktails.

Kelly Bishop’s Manchester Wine Tours are fun-packed affairs, with plenty of great chat, amusing tales and, of course, great vino with equally great people. Best of all, you can use “CREATIVETOURIST” for 10% off any tour in March or April.

Manchester’s newest green space is well worth checking out as the days get a little longer and hopefully a little warmer. Tucked away behind Mayfield Depot, with its bars and oft-changing eateries, there are play facilities for the little’uns plus the chance to spot dippers and other wildlife on the newly daylighted River Medlock.

Rain or shine, Goodtime Games’ shelves are piled high with hours and hours of turn-based amusement, with owners Tom and Melissa on hand to offer up a wealth of knowledge and recommendations. While you’re there, nip up the way to the Burton Road OG of Cocoa Cabana for some Easter-inspired chocolate treats, including delicious hot choc, or wheedle in a trip to La Chouquette in nearby Didsbury Village.

Rooftop views in Manchester don’t get much better than Climat, a wine-led, French-leaning wine bar and restaurant in the city centre. You’ll find it just beyond the end of Market Street, tucked down one of the city’s many winding streets, through an inconspicuous door, down a monochrome-panelled corridor, up a lift and so on. All very Faraway Tree.

With over 300 acres of freely roaming fallow deer, ancient trees to climb and wild trails to tread, Dunham Massey is one of our top go-tos for a quick city escape. And Easter – when the country estate bursts into bloom with white carpets of snowdrops and yellow coverings of daffodils – is the perfect time to visit.

April might still be a little early for a bracing dip, but it’s the perfect time to visit Formby Beach – spring being when the local native red squirrel population is most active. The beautiful National Trust reserve is bordered by a glorious stretch of coastal pinewoods. Combine with a trip to nearby Crosby Beach, where contemporary sculptor Antony Gormley’s striking iron men gaze into the horizon.

Spring is springing, so fingers crossed we might be able to sneak in an alfresco pint over Easter.