The New Year is a time when most of us start thinking about summer holidays, but before that, how about a long weekend break not too far from home? The UK offers some great value breaks and our biggest cities are well worth a visit with one such city being Liverpool.
- LiverpoolJim Barton / Foter.com / CC BY-SA
To music lovers it’s the home of the Beatles, to sports fans it’s the great football teams of Liverpool FC and Everton FC and to horse racing fans, of course, it’s the Aintree race course and home of the world famous Grand National Steeplechase.
The Walker Art Gallery is often described as a gem of a museum and is housed in a beautiful building that is home to paintings from the 13th century through to the present day, by artists such as Rembrandt, Hockney, Holbein, Turner, Lowry to name just a few. Don’t miss the sculpture gallery and craft and design section, plus a specially designed children’s gallery.
- Walker Art GalleryFoter.com / CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight Village is located across the Mersey on the Wirral peninsula. It is definitely worth the trip to see the village that Lord Lever created for his workers in the 1800’s. Visit the free museum which includes a collection of 18th and 19th century furniture, plus paintings by some of the top artists in the world and displays of Wedgewood and Chinese porcelain. A lovely day out in the picture perfect village surroundings.
If museums are not your bag then you could always visit Knowsley Safari Park which was opened to the public in July 1971 by the 18th Earl of Derby. The concept of having a Safari park near a City centre certainly caused some concern and the idea of sitting in your car while lions and tigers prowled around you was also unheard of, but soon became very popular.
‘Another Place’ by Antony Gormley houses a collection of 100 cast iron sculptures which are spread across two miles of Crosby Beach, north of Liverpool City Centre. They provide a strange and eerie view as they are gradually submerged by the incoming Irish sea.
Whether you are a sports fan or not, if you visit Liverpool in April, then you must attend the Aintree Grand National Meeting. The spectacle of this magnificent race, over some of the most demanding fences in the world cannot be equalled and television alone just can’t do it justice.
Shopping is what modern Liverpool is rightly famous for. It offers a great shopping experience with St John’s Centre right at the heart of the city where you will find over 100 shops and an extensive food court. Also try to squeeze in the Albert Docks area if you can.
No mention of Liverpool would be complete without mentioning the ‘Fab Four’. The place to start is not the Cavern Club, but the Casbah Coffee club as this is the place where it really began for the Beatles. The award winning ‘Beatles Story’ is a unique visitor attraction that will immerse you in an exciting and atmospheric journey into the life, times, culture and music of the city’s most famous sons.
For a fantastic city break, with plenty to keep even the most experienced traveller content, Liverpool really is a top location that should be on every list.
