Value Added Travel

Sherdley Park

Sutton Leach · 5 miles

Spanning 336 acres (136 ha), this urban park lies on the outskirts of Sutton in St Helens, Merseyside, with Sutton Leach noted as the nearest settlement. The grounds were once part of the estate owned by 19th-century coal and copper magnate Michael Hughes, who erected the now-demolished Sherdley Hall. After the Second World War the local authority acquired the land to provide a recreational space for Sutton’s residents. A petting zoo operated on the site from 1965 until its closure in 2017, after which the area was restored to open parkland. Today the park is recognised as the town’s largest green space. It incorporates an 18-hole golf course, a formal garden, expanses of woodland and a lake, all of which support a programme of summer events. Historically the venue hosted the St Helens Show, once described as the largest free show in Europe, and more recently it has become the setting for the Sherdley Festival, a three-day music gathering featuring a range of genres. Facilities for visitors include the usual amenities associated with a municipal park, and the open landscape offers ample opportunity for walking, picnicking and informal sport.

John Lennon's Childhood Home

Gateacre · 6.2 miles

Visitors can step inside Mendips, the 1933-built semi-detached house where John Lennon lived from the age of five until he was 22. The property sits in the Woolton suburb of south Liverpool, close to the Gateacre area, and is listed at Grade II. It was originally owned by Lennon's aunt, Mimi Smith, and her husband George Smith, and became Lennon's home in July 1946 after he moved from nearby Wavertree. The house remained his residence until mid-1963, and it lies a short distance from the site where his mother, Julia, was killed in 1958. The National Trust now cares for the house, having received it as a donation from Yoko Ono in March 2002 and completing a restoration to its 1950s appearance by early 2003. An English Heritage blue plaque was installed on 7 December 2000, marking the years Lennon lived there. Both the house and Paul McCartney’s childhood home were added to the Grade II list in February 2012. The National Trust keeps the bedroom light on throughout the night on each anniversary of Lennon's death. As a National Trust landmark, Mendips is accessible to the public as part of the Trust’s heritage sites, with visitor information provided by the organisation.

Bowring Park

Roby · 6.2 miles

Bowring Park is a public park in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, near Liverpool, England. It is the oldest public park in Knowsley and includes the first municipal golf course in England. It was opened in 1907 and was a gift of Liverpool's first Lord Mayor William Benjamin Bowring in 1906 of the Roby Hall Estate. He was the senior partner in a shipping firm. His wife Isabel Maclean Bowring of Saint John, New Brunswick, was sympathetic to the suffering and needy among the poor of Liverpool. Originally 100 acres (0.40 km2) in size, it lost some to the M62 motorway.

Knowsley Safari

Eccleston Lane Ends · 6.2 miles

Located in Prescot, Merseyside, the Knowsley Safari park occupies the historic parklands of Knowsley Hall and is a member of both the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. Opened in July 1971 by Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby, together with Jimmy Chipperfield and under the management of Laurence Tennant MBE, the original drive covered 3.5 miles and allowed visitors to see lions, cheetahs, monkeys, giraffes, zebras, elephants and various antelopes. An extra 1.5 miles of track was added in 1973 when camels, buffaloes, white rhinos and tigers joined the collection. The park continues to support conservation and research through links with projects and universities in Liverpool, Chester and Manchester, and it was the filming location for the Channel 4 series *Secret Life of the Safari Park*. Today guests circulate the reserve in their own cars, with a dedicated bypass to avoid the olive baboons that are known to explore vehicle roof boxes. The Amur Tiger Trail, opened on 25 May 2018, provides a 10 000 m² forested enclosure for Siberian tigers, while the Equatorial Trail houses South American tapir, sitatunga, rhea and capybara and includes the small Equatorial Express train for an elevated view. A 381 mm gauge Lakeside Railway runs through parts of the site, and additional activities such as paintballing, off-road challenges and aerial ropewalks are available. The foot-safari area displays species ranging from Nubian giraffe and Andean bear to European bison and Iberian wolf. Admission is subject to a charge and opening times are published on the park’s listing; the nearest settlement is Eccleston Lane Ends. Facilities include visitor amenities and the railway, and the park continues breeding programmes, exemplified by the Southern White Rhinoceros herd that produced its 19th calf, Nomvula, in January 2016.

Paul McCartney's Childhood Home

Mossley Hill · 6.8 miles

A National Trust property in Allerton, Liverpool, 20 Forthlin Road was the family home of Paul McCartney for several years before his fame with the Beatles. Built in 1949 and originally owned by the local authority, the McCartney family moved in 1955 while Paul attended secondary school. The house also accommodated his brother Mike, who later formed the comedy, poetry and music trio the Scaffold, of which he was a member. The National Trust now describes the property as “the birthplace of the Beatles”, noting that it is the venue where the group first composed and rehearsed their earliest songs. The property passed into National Trust ownership in 1995 and, together with John Lennon’s childhood home, received Grade II listing from Historic England in February 2012. Unlike Lennon’s Mendips, 20 Forthlin Road has not been awarded an English Heritage blue plaque, the criteria for which require the individual to have been deceased for at least twenty years or to have reached the centenary of birth. The house re-appeared in popular culture when it featured in a Carpool Karaoke segment of The Late Late Show with James Corden on 22 June 2018, during which McCartney visited the home for the first time since leaving in his late teens. The landmark lies within the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool, Merseyside. As a National Trust site, it is accessible to visitors, though specific admission details, opening hours and on-site facilities are provided by the Trust rather than the historical record.

Knowsley Hall

Stockbridge Village · 6.8 miles

Set within 2,500 acres (10 km²) of parkland on the edge of Liverpool, Knowsley Hall lies in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, with Stockbridge Village the nearest settlement. The estate, designated a Grade II* listed building in 1953, encloses Knowsley Safari Park, offering a sizeable natural attraction alongside the historic house. The hall originated as a medieval hunting lodge attached to the Lathom House estate and was inherited by the 10th Earl in 1702, who expanded it into a substantial residence. Gothic castellations and further extensions were added around 1820 under the direction of architects such as John Foster and William Burn, the latter also providing a boathouse and park bridges. Early-20th-century alterations were carried out by W. H. Romaine-Walker for the 17th Earl, while post-Second World War reductions were overseen by Claud Phillimore, resulting in the demolition of a wing and a library and a reduction of the footprint by roughly a third. The family no longer occupy the hall itself, preferring a smaller house built later in the grounds. Architecturally, the house presents a long north-south wing dating from the 1720s-1737 (the east wing) in red brick with stone dressings, while the south wing and the detached Dynamo Tower are constructed of ashlar red sandstone. The oldest segment of the south wing, known as the Royal Lodging, features two round turrets with conical roofs and a façade of nine bays with tall sash windows. The east wing’s extensive frontage includes a two-storey stone portico with Doric and Ionic columns, adding a classical touch to the overall composition.