Aprildene, Hesketh Bank
Preston, PR4 6XD

MR102/418220

Leave A59 Liverpool Preston Rd at T lts on to A585 twds Southport . In 1m tn R immediately before Dual carriage way into Blackgate Lane. In 1/4 m tn L into Green Lane_ (Narrow Rd with Passing Places) in 1/2 m continue str ahead at X-Rds into Taylor Meanygates. Site on R in about 1/2m (1st Bungalow after passing Moss Lane). Site entrance down side of bungalow Aprildene

Look at the location with Streetmap

 
 
Local Attractions

 

West Lancashire Light Railway
Hesketh Bank
The West Lancashire Light Railway is a two foot gauge passenger carrying railway. The line features a number of interesting locomotives and other railway equipment brought together from industrial lines in the immediate locality, from elsewhere in Great Britain and from overseas.
their web site is www.westlancs.org
 
Leisure Lakes
Mere Brow, Tarleton
The Leisure Lakes centre offers water sports including windsurfing, canoeing and jet skiing as well as the less energetic pursuits of fishing, walking and picnicking. The centre is open all year round and hosts many special events including the hovercraft championships, horse events and mountain bike races and has its own caravan park and aWestern Theme Pub. For more details phone 01772 813446 

Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve
Mere Brow, Tarleton
Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and is a wildlife rich haven in the heart of agricultural West Lancashire. The reserve covers 42 hectares (105 acres) and is made up of lakes, heaths, mature broadleaved and conifer woodland, the latter supporting a population of red squirrels, the most notable of over 17 species of mammals that use the site.

Martin Mere Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre
Tel. 01704 895181
 

Rufford Old Hall
One of Lancashire's finest 16th-century buildings, famed for its spectacular Great Hall with an intricately carved movable wooden screen and dramatic hammerbeam roof. It is rumoured that Shakespeare performed in this hall for the owner, Sir Thomas Hesketh, to whose family Rufford belonged for over 400 years. The house contains fine collections of 16th- and 17th-century oak furniture, arms, armour and tapestries.

Article from our news letter "The Wittering Witch"

To the casual observer Southport must be a bit of a puzzle. Why south? It's in the north - and it's not a port - never has been! Southport owes its origins to the miners from Wigan who started coming down the nearby Leeds-Liverpool canal to the village of Churchtown for its August Fair which, with the fashion for a healthy dip in the sea, came to be known as 'Big Bathing Sunday'. Eventually a hotel was built nearer to the bathing beaches and named The South Port Hotel, hence the origin of Southport. What is odd however, is how a resort developed for the needs of the miners should result in a town boasting the grandeur of Lord Street. A broad, straight sweep of arrestingly unexpected elegance. Shops parade behind glass and wrought iron canopies and wide pavements on one side while a line of fine barbered and harboured gardens flatter grand frontages on the other - Reminiscent of Paris. So much so, that it is often referred to as 'The Paris of the North'. Wrong! The dramatic reconstruction of the French capital c1860 resulted from a visit by Napoleon III to Southport where he was 'greatly taken' by the splendour of Lord Street which was built in the first quarter of the 19th century. So, it would seem, Paris is the 'Southport of the South' and don't let anyone tell you different - so there!