'I visited the countryside pub on the edge of Greater Manchester with two stunning beer gardens'

It's late afternoon in Woodford, a leafy village situated to the south of Stockport on the Cheshire border, where beautiful open countryside surrounds it.

Once a hamlet in the parish of Prestbury, it was later incorporated into the Urban District of Hazel Grove and Bramhall in 1939, and then the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in 1974.

It was once known as the home of airfield and aircraft factory, Woodford Aerodrome. Opened by Avro after the First World War, it became an important production centre for military aircraft in the Second World War including the famous Lancaster and Vulcan bombers.

After almost 80 years it closed and was sold off by BAE Systems. Demolished in 2015 a new housing development was built on the site, which overlooks the village's popular garden centre, Notcutts.

The village also features a small selection of shops, but opposite Christ Church on Chester Road, where the bells periodically ring out, sits a proper local pub with an intriguing history.

The Davenport Arms was acquired by brewer Robinsons in the 1920s and for years the license was held by several generations of the Hallworth family.

In the family for 91 years, its former landlady Yvonne Hallworth worked on and off at the pub for 58 years, worked there for 42 years, and was a licensee for 32 years, before handing over the reins to another family of publicans, the Bromleys, who also own The Church Inn pub in Cheadle Hulme, in 2023.

The pub is a also a former holder of CAMRA’s Greater Manchester Pub of the Year title and in 2021 celebrated thirty five consecutive years in CAMRA’s national Good Beer Guide.

Situated next to a farm, you can sometimes see Robinsons' shire houses out back, while the red-brick pub is in the style of a