July 15, 2008
Southport, UK in the spotlight
We take a short break from talking about cruises to bring you this guest entry by Mancunian. He talks about Southport and has convinced me that this site needs a UK travel plan including Southport and the nearby Liverpool. Anyway, here is Mancunian's blog entry:
If you are a golf fan, you probably know that the world’s premier golf championship, the British Open starts this week at Royal Birkdale, Southport. That seemed like a good excuse to write something about Southport (especially as it’s my home town!).
And it's one of those places that somehow never gets more than a brief mention (if at all) in all those travel guide books that are out there, which is strange because Southport is a beautiful old fashioned seaside resort, with excellent shopping, parks and beaches as well as one of Britain’s longest piers. The main shopping street, Lord Street with its sidewalks covered by Victorian glass roofs, is considered to be one of Britain’s most attractive shopping streets. Southport has an old-fashioned feel to it, with plenty of tea rooms, gardens and distinctive shops.
And if you are looking for a golfing destination, Southport makes a great choice – the town is within easy reach of 20 golf courses, including three “royal” courses. The town is within an hour’s drive from both Liverpool (this year’s European city of culture) and Manchester airports.
There are several offbeat things to do in the area. Southport boasts the world’s only lawnmower museum (No, strangely enough I haven’t been there!) as well as what claims to be England’s smallest pub (or bar), the Lakeside Inn.
And if you have time, a day trip to mysterious Pendle Hill is an interesting experience. The area is infamous as the home of the so-called Pendle witches - one of the witches is buried in the nearby village of Newchurch (it’s the grave that has a carving of a skull and crossbones) and every Halloween, people brave the climb to the top of the hill. (The TV show “Most Haunted” which is a Travel Channel regular, stated that Pendle Hill was one of the scariest places they had filmed).
For some reason it always seems to be misty and raining when I am in the region of Pendle Hill – as the locals say: "If you can't see Pendle then it's raining, and if you can then it's going to rain."
Posted by James Trotta at July 15, 2008 7:34 AM | TrackBack