The largest dune system in England, red squirrels, culture – and a charmingly well-kept holiday home park, on the little-known Sefton coast

Close to a little-known and very tranquil stretch of coastline, where the largest dune system in England lies, in a region that’s home to the rare red squirrel, a holiday home park sits waiting for you to discover it… Just as we did.

Willowbank Holiday Home and Touring Park is on the Sefton Coast, at Ainsdale, a few miles south of Southport.

The park has a remote, quiet, tranquil aspect, yet is within easy distance of the Victorian promenade resort of Southport (a beautiful boating lake, a theatre, a miniature railway, an elegant, long street of shops and covered arcades are among the attractions here). It’s also only 40 minutes’ drive from Liverpool, which
claims to have more museums and galleries than any other UK city outside of London, plus 15 theatres and halls… a veritable city of culture, then.

We know sophisticated Southport quite well but Liverpool will have to wait until another time. We did have time for a brief exploration of the dunes, though. Natural England’s website tells us that these dunes are home to over 450 plant species including 33 that are locally or regionally rare. Among them are petalwort, seaside centaury, yellow bartsia, round-leaved wintergreen, dune helleborine and pendulous-flowered helleborine.

The website also tells us this is one of the best strongholds of the rare natterjack toad, Europe’s loudest amphibian. We didn’t see any red squirrels or hear any toads on this visit but we did follow trails across the dunes to the beach and discovered that this is brilliant walking territory.

At Crosby, along the coast, the beach is famous for Anthony Gormley’s spectacular statue creation, 100 iron figures facing towards the sea. It’s a brilliant area for birdwatching, with several reserves between here and Southport.

Red squirrels can be observed at the National Trust’s Formby Red Squirrel Walk (1.8 miles through woodland). You’d never be short of things to do in this region if you bought a holiday home at Willowbank.

The park has been under the current ownership since 2004, since when a programme of improvements has taken place. Gardens are now on corners of the quiet cul-de-sacs in which the holiday homes are arranged, landscaping has taken place and the park has a neat aspect. Flowers are a feature of the entrance in particular.

Typically there are three showhomes to view here; on the day of our visit there was just one, a Swift Bordeaux – more were awaited to keep up with demand. There are 228 holiday homes here yet, because of the cul-de-sac arrangement, nowhere do you feel that you are on a large park.

There’s a delightful, enclosed dog walk along one edge of the park. It’s a well tended park yet retaining a natural aspect; woodland management and the planting of trees ideal for the acidic soils of the pine woods region are part of the on-going programme here.

The park is open 50 weeks a year (from 14 February to 31 January). The nearest villages are Formby and Ainsdale – and the nearest beach is Ainsdale, only a 10-minute drive away, as we discovered (and photographed – above right).

Cycling is an easy joy here because the area has no hills to challenge you; there are several recognised cycle trails as well as endless walking opportunities. We could have walked through woodland from the park to Freshfields and then on to Formby… Lots of walking info is readily available at the park and on websites. But on this, our first visit to Willowbank, time constrained us to a walk amid the dunes; that was enough, though, to convince us that owning a holiday home at Willowbank gives you a great centre for walking plus all manner of cultural and wildlife activities.

Contact

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