About 2 miles north of Southport, is the historic and carefully preserved village of Churchtown, which is listed in the Domesday Book and which dates back to early Anglo-Saxon times. We start our walk by the village green near St Cuthbert’s church and the Hesketh Arms public house and restaurant. By the old grammar school, now the local Conservative club, are the village stocks, erected in 1741 and last used in 1860, when one John Rimmer was placed in them for drunkenness.

The Hesketh Arms was formerly called the Black Bull and the landlord was William Sutton, founder of ‘South Port’, when he opened his bathing facilities there in 1792. Originally three fisherman’s cottages the coach house and stables can still be seen in the rear car park.

Across the road is Meols Hall, one of the family home’s of the Fleetwood–Hesketh family and now also a glamorous venue for wedding receptions and other functions. Continue along Botanic Road for 200 yards to reach the entrance of the Botanic Gardens, a wonderful gem of a park, with its museum, café/conservatory, floral gardens, boating lake, aviary and brass band concerts on Sunday afternoons in summer.

Opened in 1874 by the Southport and Churchtown Botanic Gardens Company, the lake was part of the Otter Pool, a stream that flowed through Meols Hall to the sea. Admission then was 4d, about 2p now, so the Botanic Gardens is one of the few attractions that now cost less - as there is no admission charge. The museum was opened in 1876 and has excellent displays of local nature and local history, with many unique artifacts and displays, including the Cecily Bate Doll collection and a Victorian Room. Returning to the park entrance, turn right to pass Meols Hall on the left, turn left into Churchgate and through the old village with it’s many thatched cottages and small specialist shops. Turn right into Manor Road and then at the Box Tree Nursery and Café, turn right to return to the village green, completing our walk around historic Churchtown.