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Tourism attractions,museums, galleries, parks, accomodation |
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History &
Heritage history, architecture, famous people, culture, features |
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Sefton
Park is a glorious rolling Victorian parkland. The park is
surrounded by a roadway lined with flowering trees and interlaced with
rambling carriage drives in keeping with its Victorian design. The chief
gardener to the City of Paris in 1867, Edouard Andre, won a competition to
design the park. There are a number of lakes and ponds, woods and
gardens and a magnificent Palm House.
In
1898, Arthur Kilpin Bulley, a Liverpool cotton broker, founded Ness
Gardens by building his house on a gorse covered sandstone outcrop.
He systematically incorporated surrounding fields into what has now become
one of the country's leading botanic gardens, a learning garden with plant
introductions from all over the world. On his behalf, pioneering
plant collectors scoured the temperate regions of the Far East for alpine
and hardy plants which could be cultivated in our climate.After his death
the gardens were bequeathed to the University of Liverpool by his daughter
in 1948. A notable garden of international repute, it continues its
excellence in research, conservation and public education.
WWT
Martin Mere is run by the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, a charity working
to save wetlands for wildlife and people.WWT was founded by the artist and
naturalist, the late Sir Peter Scott, in 1946 on the banks of the River
Severn in Gloucestershire. Sir Peter believed in bringing wildlife
and people together for the benefit of both.When you visit Martin Mere you
come into close contact with wetlands and their wildlife. You can
get close enough to feed some of the birds straight from your hand. 
Managed by English Nature, this 28 ha reserve has restricted access but can be surveyed from public footpaths along its boundaries and permits are readily available from English Nature.
The creation of a flood bank in the 1970's left wet areas which have since become important for the Natterjack Toad.
The reserve has breeding Lapwing, Snipe, Skylark and Reed Bunting and would no doubt reward regular visits in spring and autumn with further records of uncommon migrants. Like Ravenmeols, there is a major wader roost and Pinkfeet roost on the offshore sandbanks in winter. 
Millbrook Park Millennium Green is an expansive area of public open space that provides an impressive backdrop to St. Chads Church. The Park has a definite 'countryside feel', with Kirkby Brook running through the middle of the site and trees bordering the fringes.
The National Wildflower Centre aims to encourage the creation of new wildflower landscapes for the benefit of people and wildlife. We call this creative conservation. 
Walton Hall Gardens was originally part of a much larger country estate purchased in 1812 by the Greenall family, famous for their success in the brewing industry. The Hall itself was built in Elizabethan style during the 1830's, designed by Edmund Sharpe of Lancaster, who later became famous for the Gothic revival in architecture. The Estate was bought by Warrington Borough Council in 1941 and has been enjoyed as a park since 1945.
Wirral Country Park is a place of contrasts. Badgers and foxes hunt the quieter parts, birds nest in the dense hedges or feed on the berries in winter, and you may see up to 10 kinds of butterfly in summer. Head for the 60 feet high, boulder-clay cliffs and look out over the Dee Estuary and you'll smell the tang of mud and salt, feel the sea breeze and get a sense of space quite unlike the enclosed, inland Wirral Way.