The parish contains the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Goostrey may have been a meeting place or even a settlement during the 1st millennium BC, as stone and bronze axe heads and barrows within the parish boundary show the area was inhabited before the Iron Age.

Bronze Age barrows have also been found near Twemlow Hall and Terra Nova School on the edge of the parish.

The 1,200-year-old yew tree in Goostrey's churchyard suggests that the mound on which the church is built was a focal point for a community during the Dark Ages of the 1st millennium.

[1] At this time most of the parish was held by William FitzNigel, Baron of Halton, and by Hugh de Mara, another follower of the Earl of Chester.

Dairy farming and particularly the Cheshire speciality, cheese, thrived, shielding the county from poor harvests and low prices.

[4] The new station offered a market for milk and produce and brought in occasional trippers, temperance groups or Sunday schools out for a picnic.

In the late 19th century, villas were built along Main Road and groups of cyclists began visiting the village, a connection which continues.

Recent community ventures include a sports pavilion, and a new children's play area in Boothbed Lane (completed in 2005).

Goostrey also has two general stores, a visiting post office, a cafe, a Turkish barbers and a pharmacy.

Alan Garner lives in the village in the late 16th-century house known as Toad Hall and set his popular novel The Weirdstone of Brisingamen in nearby Alderley Edge.

Also known as "Goosfest", the week-long showcase comprises a wide variety of events promoting the cultural life of the village, consisting of amateur and professional practitioners (many of whom are local) across a wide range of the arts, including stand-up comedy, classical, folk and contemporary music, pottery, photography and paintings.

This has resulted in a number of housing development submissions being refused, due to the adverse effect that they would have on the work of the dish.