By the Beacon Living Group team · 23 August 2026 · 6 min read + markets-with-kids planner
Summary: Beacon Living Group runs Briar House, a four-bedroom serviced house in Sharston, Wythenshawe that sleeps eight and has free driveway parking for up to four cars. It sits about 25 minutes by car from the Manchester Christmas Markets and it is on the Metrolink Airport Line, so a family or group can leave the car at the house and tram into town. The whole house is £180 a night on a three-night weekday minimum (two at weekends), which is one price for everyone rather than a room each at market-weekend rates. Twenty-five minutes out is a real trade and this guide is honest about it.
Booking a family into Manchester for a Christmas Markets weekend usually comes down to the same two problems: how many rooms you need and where the car goes. Hotels answer by the room, which splits a family of six across two or three of them on different floors. This guide answers by the house, prints the price and is straight about the twenty-five minutes out.
The Manchester Christmas Markets are not one market but a run of separate sites spread across the city centre, which is the first thing to know when you are planning a day with children.
These are the sites the markets have used across the city centre in recent years.
The line-up moves a little from year to year, so check the confirmed list for this season on the Visit Manchester website before you plan the day.
The sites are walkable from each other but a full loop is a long way on small legs, so pick two or three for the day and stop there.
The markets usually open in mid-November and close a few days before Christmas. Opening hours differ between weekdays and weekends, so check before you travel.
A hotel prices a market weekend by the room and a family of five or six needs two of them.
Briar House is £180 a night for the whole house. A Friday to Monday market weekend is three nights, so £540 for everyone staying, with all bills, wifi and linen included. Price the same dates for two hotel rooms in the city centre before you decide.
What the house adds that a row of rooms does not: everyone in one place, a lounge to sit in after the cold, a kitchen for breakfast, a washing machine, a garden and children in the same room as a parent.
If you are a couple or travelling on your own, this is the wrong answer and serviced accommodation in Manchester city centre is the right one.
Beacon Living Group's house sits in Sharston, Wythenshawe, which puts the Metrolink Airport Line within reach and the city centre about 25 minutes away by car.
The tram is the recommended way in on a market weekend. No parking hunt, no driving home tired, no worrying about a drink at the Winter Gardens bar.
The nearest Metrolink stops to Sharston are Benchill and Crossacres, both on the Airport Line. The line runs into the city centre and calls at Market Street, itself one of the market sites, then continues to Shudehill and Victoria, close to Exchange Square and Cathedral Gardens.
For the journey time, the planner at tfgm.com gives the current figure for your stop and the day you are travelling, since it varies with the timetable and the time of day. A day travelcard covers unlimited travel for the day and is usually the sensible buy for a family going in and coming back. A buggy is fine on a tram but you will want one you are happy to fold when it is busy.
For the wider neighbourhood, our honest guide to staying in Wythenshawe covers what else is nearby.
Parking is the part of a Christmas Markets trip that catches people out, because the city-centre car parks nearest the stalls are the first to fill and the most expensive to sit in all day.
Briar House has a private driveway that parks up to four cars or vans at no extra cost. It is included in the nightly price, it is at the door and nobody is feeding a machine.
There are two ways to use it. Drive in and pay for a city car park for the hours you are actually at the stalls, or leave the car on the driveway and tram in. On a market Saturday, Beacon recommends the tram.
City-centre car parks are charged by the hour and fill on the busiest weekends of the year, so check the operator's app for prices and pre-booking before you set off. If you are arriving by train or coach instead, the house is a tram ride out, so an arrival by rail works too.
Doing the Manchester Christmas Markets with young children is mostly a logistics problem and it is solvable with a bit of planning the night before.
Most small children last about two hours outdoors in December, so plan one indoor warm-up stop and treat it as part of the trip rather than a failure. Go early rather than late. The sites are calmest before noon and busiest after dark.
Twelve things worth sorting the night before. Tick them off as you go.
The short version, if you only do three of them: go before noon, plan one indoor warm-up stop and decide how you are getting home before you are cold and tired. Everything else on the list is comfort. Those three are the difference between a good day and a long one.
Briar House is a newly refurbished four-bedroom house in Sharston, Wythenshawe that sleeps eight across two double bedrooms, a twin room whose beds zip together into a queen, a single room and a lounge sofa bed.
The whole house is £180 a night on a three-night weekday minimum (two at weekends). Seven nights or more takes 10% off, which is £1,134 for a week or £162 a night. Twenty-eight nights or more takes 25% off, which is £3,780 or £135 a night. That is one price for the house, not per person, with all bills, wifi and linen included. Booking direct takes 7% off the Airbnb rate for the same nights, so you can price the same dates on the Briar House Airbnb listing and compare. Cancellation is free up to 7 days before check-in, and a refundable security deposit of £200 on a credit card, or £500 on a debit or prepaid card is taken before check-in and released after the stay.
The full detail on the house and the wider area is on our serviced accommodation in Wythenshawe page.
Wythenshawe is 25 minutes from the markets and that is a real trade, so here is the honest version before you book.
If your trip is really an event weekend rather than a markets weekend, our group and event stays near Old Trafford guide may fit better.
If you are travelling as a family or a group, a whole house with parking a short tram ride out usually beats a row of city-centre hotel rooms on both space and price. Beacon Living Group runs Briar House in Sharston, Wythenshawe, which sleeps eight, has free driveway parking and sits about 25 minutes from the stalls by car. On your own or as a couple, the city centre is the better answer.
Yes, although almost none of it is in the city centre itself, where parking usually means a paid car park rather than a space at the door. Briar House has a private driveway that takes up to four cars at no extra cost, included in the nightly price. Guests either drive in and pay for a few hours in town, or leave the car at the house and take the tram.
Yes. Wythenshawe sits on the Metrolink Airport Line, which runs into the city centre and stops on Market Street, one of the market sites. The nearest stops to Sharston are Benchill and Crossacres, both on the Airport Line. The line continues to Shudehill and Victoria near Exchange Square and Cathedral Gardens. A day travelcard covers unlimited travel for the day. The journey planner at tfgm.com gives the current time for your stop and the day you are travelling.
About 25 minutes by car from Sharston into the city centre on the A5103 Princess Parkway. It is longer on a busy market Saturday. The tram avoids the traffic and the parking. Beacon would rather you knew the twenty-five minutes now than discovered it on the day.
Briar House is £180 a night for the whole four-bedroom house, so a three-night Friday to Monday market weekend is £540 for everyone staying. That is one price for the house rather than per person, with all bills, wifi and linen included. Seven nights or more takes 10% off, which is £162 a night. Twenty-eight nights or more takes 25% off, which is £135 a night. Booking direct takes 7% off the Airbnb rate for the same nights.
Yes. Check-ins on a Friday or Saturday have a three-night weekday minimum (two at weekends), so a Friday to Sunday works and a Friday to Monday gives you three nights. A single night on its own does not meet the minimum. If a shorter gap opens up between two bookings Beacon Living Group will sometimes take a one-night stay to fill it, so it is worth asking on WhatsApp. Cancellation is free up to 7 days before check-in, and a refundable security deposit of £200 on a credit card, or £500 on a debit or prepaid card is taken before check-in and released after the stay.
It suits families as a whole-house stay, with four bedrooms, a full kitchen, a washing machine, a lounge and an enclosed patio garden. It is a normal family house rather than a childproofed one. Blackout curtains in every bedroom and self check-in with a keypad make a late arrival with sleeping children straightforward. Tell Beacon what you need for a baby or a toddler when you book and you will get a straight answer on what the house has.
The Manchester Christmas Markets usually open in mid-November and close a few days before Christmas. The exact dates and opening hours for this year are published by Visit Manchester. Hours differ between weekdays and weekends. Accommodation for the market weekends goes early, because the whole city is booking the same handful of Fridays and Saturdays.
About Beacon Living Group. Beacon Living Group is a Manchester guaranteed rent and serviced accommodation operator. It provides serviced houses for families, groups, relocating households, hospital and airport stays and corporate placements across Manchester, including a four-bedroom house in Sharston, Wythenshawe that sleeps eight and books direct with a local team. Beacon Living Group Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company no. 17076795.
Market weekends book up. Send your dates and how many are coming and we will tell you whether we can take them, or which other dates that month are free.
Send your dates on WhatsApp
Briar House sleeps eight, parks four cars on the driveway and sits about 25 minutes from the stalls. £180 a night for the whole house on a three-night weekday minimum (two at weekends), all bills included.
