Lancashire Coast (for a change)

This break took us over the Pennines to the West Coast.  Our first stop was Clitheroe, a market town in the Ribble Valley.

We then drove to the Victorian seaside town of St Anne’s-on-Sea where we had booked in to the Offshore Inn, a dog friendly, frontline hotel.

We walked along the promenade, battling against a strong wind, and walked along the pier. You could feel the structure swaying and the soft sand, which the sea doesn’t reach, was blown across the beach in an unusual formation which resembled waves.

That evening we drove along to the better known, adjacent town of Blackpool to view the notorious Illuminations. We have seen the display before but this time we had the road to ourselves. Perhaps because, these days, there are Light Nights in many towns and it is not unusual to see sophisticated lighting displays in gardens, but we weren’t overly impressed.

The next morning we drove in the other direction to Lytham to visit Fairhaven Lake, a 

scenic location offering many activities such as boating, children’s play areas and tennis as well as gardens and other wildlife. The park is on the seafront, where the Irish Sea meets the River Ribble.

This is a full size replica model of a Spitfire bought by people of the area, unfortunately shot down over the English Channel 

Now used as a boatyard, this was the original clubhouse of the Fairhaven Golf Club

We continued to Lytham Hall where we had lunch in the charming tea room. This fine Georgian house is a Grade 1 listed building and was once the ancestral home of the Clifton Family, spanning over four centuries.

There is a garden centre and a stall selling interesting antiques such as postcards, coins and other artefacts. We bought a Victorian perfume bottle with a silver top to add to our bottle collection. We strolled in the woodlands and formal gardens.

The centre of Lytham is lined with mostly independent shops and cafes and leads down to the beach.

 Lytham centre

 Formerly the Assembly Rooms, this is now the library

On our final day we walked to Ashton Gardens, an attractive 10 acre park in the centre of St Anne's. It has a grade II listed War Memorial, a Pavilion tea room, a play area and water features.  

Like its neighbour Lytham, St Anne’s centre is full of small shops and eateries. It was a pleasure just to walk about and view the beautiful architecture.

Over the bridge from Yorkshire to Lincolnshire

 

Leaving East Yorkshire via the iconic Humber Bridge, we visited Barton upon Humber in Lincolnshire, situated on the opposite bank of the Humber estuary.

Here we found Waters’ Edge Country Park and Visitor Centre built on a former packed with wildlife and nature. There is a huge 110 acres of nature reserve to explore with lots of trails, ponds and quiet seating areas.

Walls constructed from tiles found on the site

The Visitors Centre

The site on which Waters’ Edge stands was quarried for brick and tile clay until 1955. Other earlier uses of the land include rope making, malt kilns and fertiliser production from animal waste which led to the site being one of the most polluted sites in Europe. When the fertiliser shut down in 1988, the site was polluted with acids, potash, ammonia and heavy metals contaminating the ground and water. When you see the abundant wildlife, you would never have guessed its history.

The Visitor Centre with its gift shop and café also houses an art gallery where you can see work from local artists.

On the return journey, we stopped at the pub on the Yorkshire side of the bridge where we could see the area just visited.

Many places visited within a few days

Our final destination for this trip was Edinburgh but, en route, we stopped off a various places including an overnight stop in Northumberland.

It was an unusually hot and sunny day when we started our journey so we had a picnic lunch in the beautifully maintained South Park in Darlington.

After checking in at the dog-friendly Amble Inn, we took advantage of the good weather to visit Alnmouth and Amble Harbour. 

The next day we called at Seahouses, but skipped Bamburgh which is always heaving with tourists since it has been voted UK’s favourite seaside town in a recent Which survey, and took advantage of our Historic Houses Association membership to visit Paxton House   on the English/Scottish border near Berwick-on-Tweed where we had lunch.

After a quick look at the picturesque fishing village of St Abbs, we drove on to Edinburgh. In heavy rain the SatNav directed us to our hotel via Holyrood Park which is closed to traffic on weekends. We then had to make a detour in heavy traffic and the pouring rain and eventually arrived at our hotel. The Britannia Hotel is situated across from one of Edinburgh’s 144 parks which houses a famous art gallery.  These green spaces are a blessing, especially for dog owners, as few of the residences in the centre of the city have gardens.

The hotel restaurant was closed so we drove in the pouring rain to a dog-friendly pub, fortunately with underground parking nearby, where we ate a pleasant meal. On returning to the hotel, we found guests had order food through Deliveroo and Uber eats. Why didn’t we think of that? Maybe it’s a generational thing.

The following day the weather had improved and we made our way to celebrate the birthday of my daughter who was staying at Mortonhall Caravan Park. The traffic was heavy with many sets of lights which allowed us to take in some of the sights and appreciate the architecture. While they were visiting Arthur’s Seat, we took advantage of the caravan site with its walks, garden centre and  Stables Restaurant   

We spent the afternoon at Portobello, which had re-invented itself from the tired seaside resort we had visited decades ago. The beach and promenades were thronging with holidaymakers and the bay was busy with small sailing vessels from the Portobello Sailing, Kayaking and Rowing Club . The food at the   TheBeach House (thebeachhousecafe.co.uk) adjacent to the beach was delicious.

On the return journey we stopped Noses Point on the Durham coast at Seaham with its interesting history where we walked along the cliff top and watched a pod of dolphins in the bay.

So, we managed to visit many places of interest in just a few days away.