Idyllic village near Manchester has Royal links, Britain's best pub and only 200 residents - but every year welcomes thousands

Even residents describe it as in the "middle of nowhere", but the tiny village of Cholmondeley in Cheshire has a lot going on to entice visitors to drive out and find it. The village is largely made up of the Cholmondeley Estate, the historic parkland where a famous castle and gardens sit.

In more recent years the old village school house here was converted into the estate's first pub, The Cholmondeley Arms. And what a pub it has become - claiming the title of Great British Pub of the Year at the end of 2023.

The pub is affectionately known as "The Chum" - in reference to the way the name of the village of Cholmondeley is actually pronounced. It's said as "chumley" rather than "chol-mon-de-ley", for those unfamiliar with the place.

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Less than 200 people call this village home, living among farms and small holdings scattered across the 7,500 acre country estate which is 8 miles from Nantwich.

But the village itself is visited by thousands upon thousands of people every year during the spring and summer, when Cholmondeley Castle throws open its gates for visitors to stroll through its pretty gardens.

The castle and estate is owned by Lord and Lady Cholmondeley, a family that has owned the estate here for over 500 years. Lord Cholmondeley enjoys close ties with the Royal Family as a Lord-in-Waiting to King Charles III, while their "other" ancestral home is Houghton Hall in Norfolk, making Lord and Lady Cholmondeley neighbours to Prince William and Princess Catherine.

While the family have lived here since Norman times, the castle we see today was built in the early 19th century to the design of the 1st Marquess. The 70 acre gardens