Where to Stay in Southport, England

What is Southport known for?

Southport draws visitors to Pleasureland, the Southport Botanic Gardens, and The Atkinson, while smaller collections like the British Lawnmower Museum and the Museum of Buffoonery give the town its own particular character. Birkdale adjoins it. The Southport Arts Centre and the Southport Model Railway Village fill out the list of places built for visitors.

What are the main landmarks in Southport?

The Atkinson stands at the centre of the town's cultural buildings. Pleasureland Southport, the Southport Botanic Gardens, and the Southport Model Railway Village are the family attractions, while the British Lawnmower Museum and the Museum of Buffoonery sit at the odder end of the list. Church towers are hard to avoid here.

St George's Church, Holy Trinity Church, and St Cuthbert's Church at Churchtown carry the parish record, and the Lifeboat Memorial and the Monument of Queen Victoria mark the seafront town's civic side.

What is the history of Southport?

What Southport keeps of its past, it keeps in buildings. St Cuthbert's Church at Churchtown, Holy Trinity Church, and the Church of St Marie mark parishes across the town, and Birkdale alone carries St Joseph's Church, St John's Church, St James' Church, St Peter's Church, and the Church of St Teresa of Avila. Hoghton House survives among them.

The Guest House at Nos 14-16 and the Lord Street West United Reformed Church belong to the same older fabric, along with the Church of Emmanuel, the Church of St Luke, and the Church of St Philip and St Paul. The sea gave the town its trade. A Lifeboat Memorial stands in Southport, and the Monument of Queen Victoria marks a resort whose Southport Botanic Gardens, The Atkinson, and Pleasureland were built for visitors.

Cricket took the Trafalgar Road Ground. Later attractions followed the same logic, from the Southport Arts Centre and the Southport Model Railway Village to the British Lawnmower Museum and the Museum of Buffoonery, each aimed at a day out rather than a working town. Administration moved with the century: the historic county is Lancashire, while the town belongs to the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside and ranks third in the Liverpool City Region for size.

Liverpool lies down the coast.

Where is Southport?

Southport lies on the West Lancashire coastal plain along the east coast of the Irish Sea, north of Liverpool and south-west of Preston. Sefton is the borough. Birkdale and Churchtown lie within the built-up area, each with churches of its own, and the historic county behind all of it is Lancashire.

Flat ground reaches the water.

What is the climate of Southport?

The Irish Sea keeps the edges off both seasons. Winters stay cool rather than severe and summers rarely turn hot, with wind off the water a more constant feature of the coast than either temperature. Rain arrives all year.

Cloud is common over the West Lancashire plain, and the temperate pattern holds through the year without much in the way of extremes.

How do you get to Southport?

Most arrivals come from Liverpool or Preston. Southport lies north of Liverpool and south-west of Preston, both close enough for a day trip, and the roads across the West Lancashire coastal plain are flat the whole way in. Sefton surrounds the town.

Birkdale and Churchtown sit within the same built-up stretch, so a local journey covers the whole of it.