Nature, golf, beaches, birdwatching, walking, cycling – it’s all spread out before you

Words by Val Chapman Images by Richard Chapman

Five miles from Southport, within walking distance of the coast and a nature reserve, Willowbank Holiday Home and Touring Park is a haven of tranquillity, set in 30 acres and bordered by woodland. It’s a neatly maintained landscape interspersed with lawns and attractive bushes.

The park which has a 50-week season, is entirely level and has a CCTV-monitored security gate. Illuminated, well-surfaced roads run throughout the park and there is a parking space at every plot.

Willowbank’s nearest village is Ainsdale; it’s one of several villages in the area where the ’coffee culture’ thrives – there are plenty of cafes to make for whether you’re driving, cycling or walking.

The park is close to several cycle routes including the Natterjack Way, which runs through Ainsdale on its way from the old Cheshire Lines Railway to Birkdale Nature Reserve (the home of the rare Natterjack Toad), to Southport.

Ainsdale and Birkdale Sandhills National Nature Reserve is nearby; dunes, beach and pine woodland setting covering over 500 acres. This reserve is at the central part of the Seft on Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, a 13-mile dune system which stretches from the cultural city of Liverpool to the elegant Victorian resort of Southport.

Against this delightful backdrop, Nature, golf, beaches, birdwatching, walking, cycling – it’s all spread out before you Words Val Chapman Images Richard Chapman the region has several key attractions; among them are golf, a lovely resort town, beaches and a birdwatching centre.

Golf

Along with its natural attractions, this coastline is famous as England’s 'Golf Coast’, home to 14 of the finest-rated golf courses in Britain; nine of these are within a few miles of Willowbank Holiday Park. It’s a veritable golfers’ paradise. There are clubs and courses for all levels of play here – as our research below shows…

Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club is amongst the UK’s top 100 clubs and sits among dunes, heather and gorse. The Top 100 Golf Courses website describes it as a ‘serious golfing test’, and a ‘natural and challenging links course’.

Two miles away is Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Famous as a venue for championship and international events, Royal Birkdale has been voted one of the top five clubs in the UK and amongst the top 35 in the world. Hillside Golf Club lies a stone’s throw from Royal Birkdale, amid a stretch of sand hills on the outskirts of Southport. They rate it as a tough and challenging course.

Southport Old Links Golf Club is in the village of Churchtown, just 10 minutes from Royal Birkdale Golf Club. This is a nine-hole course with 18 tees.

Southport Golf Links

Opened in 1912, the course is a nine-hole course on reclaimed land. In the 1930s the club extended it to an 18-hole course. Hesketh Golf Club, in the delightfully named Cockle Dick’s Lane, which has its origins in Southport’s cockle-gathering tradition, this is the oldest club in Southport, established in 1885.

It’s a five-minute drive from Southport town centre. Park Golf Club, close to Southport, is a small private club, and it welcomes new members. Formby Hall Golf Resort & Spa has an 18-hole championship course, plus the nine-hole Woodhey Dunes Course (recommended for families) and a Professional Golfers’ Association academy.

Southport Golf Academy is 12 miles from Willowbank Holiday Park, at Leisure Lakes Golf Complex, Mere Brow, Tarleton. Southport Golf Academy offers tuition, a golf simulator, a driving range and practice area, junior lessons and a nine-hole course.

West Lancashire Golf Club, at Blundellsands, 10 miles from Willowbank, is one of the 10 oldest clubs in England, founded in 1873. It offers beginners’ classes and a juniors’ section and has sea views from parts of the course.

Formby Golf Club is a championship links course, founded in 1884. Running through sand dunes and pinewoods, it’s a course of contrasts, with sheltered greens, undulating fairways and challenging tee shots.

Within this club’s 470-acre estate is Formby Ladies’ Golf Club. It has small greens protected by pot bunkers, designed for precision play rather than relying on length of shot.

Beaches

Southport’s vast expanse of sand is a delight. Ainsdale Beach is the place to go for kitesurfing. Formby beach, backed by dunes, is beautiful. Crosby beach is famous for its 100 identical life-sized iron statues of a man staring out to sea, created by sculptor Antony Gormley.

Southport

Southport has all the ingredients you’d expect from a resort and more besides – a pier, a theatre, great shopping including arcades, promenade, boating lake, a miniature railway, gardens and even a museum of vintage lawnmowers!

Martin Mere Wetland Centre

A 30-minute drive from Willowbank, 10 miles inland from Southport, Martin Mere Wetlands Centre offers hides from which you can see migrating birds, especially geese and swans, a café, adventure playground, ducks which feed from your hand, flamingos and rare species including the spectacular crowned cranes. From families to serious birdwatcher, the centre caters for all.

Contact
Willowbank Holiday Home and Touring Park
Coastal Road
Ainsdale
Southport
PR8 3ST
T 01704 571566
W willowbankcp.co.uk