Local resident, Jenny Ryan, has put together a guide to the area for visitors. Many thanks Jen!

The Great British Seaside

If you’re a Brit or Anglophile, you’ll have a good idea what to expect in Blackpool, but for some visitors from abroad it will be… an interesting experience.

Blackpool

Blackpool is the UK version of Las Vegas. Only not quite as high-class. However it says a lot about British culture and is an ideal hedonist destination! Don’t expect refinement – this is a town dedicated to having cheap fun.

The Golden Mile is the stretch along the Blackpool Promenade (longer than a mile, actually) from North Pier to the Pleasure Beach, lined with hotels, bars, amusement arcades, fortune teller booths, candy floss stalls and souvenir shops. On the beach itself in summer there are donkey rides and deckchairs, but even then there is no guarantee of sunshine! Trams and buses run the length of the sea front.

Blackpool Tower dominates the skyline, and is one of the most recognisable English landmarks outside of London. You can go to the top of the Tower and enjoy the views – on a clear day you can see Ireland over the sea and test your courage on the reinforced glass walkway. In the Tower complex you can dance in the world-famous Ballroom (they have dancing sessions daily) and see a show at the Tower Circus.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach doesn’t have sand – it is an amusement park! With over 6 million visitors each year it claims to be Britain’s number one tourist attraction. Its most famous rollercoaster is The Big One which, on opening in 1994, was the tallest, fastest rollercoaster in the world. It still holds the British record and is a very impressive ride, and there are plenty of other attractions crammed onto the Pleasure Beach including the Grand National rollercoaster which has been open since the 1930s. It’s also free to go and walk around while you decide what to ride on, and you can either ‘pay as you ride’ or purchase a wristband which entitles you to unlimited rides.

Blackpool is now a hotspot for stag and hen parties attracted by the cheap beer and numerous bars and clubs. Whilst this means there are plenty of places to drink, it might be worth doing a bit of research if you don’t want to end up in a seedy karaoke bar – unless that’s not your scene! One of the most popular venues is the cabaret club Funny Girls, which is staffed by drag artists who perform comedy and music nightly (booking recommended) and there are many other shows and cabaret nights taking place.

Further afield The North West of England is…great.

But I’m biased. There is plenty to see and do though, if you want to explore.

Manchester

Manchester has been regenerated over the last decade and is now a cultural and recreational mecca. Museums and galleries include the Whitworth Gallery, Urbis, the Museum of Science and Industry (haven for train and machinery enthusiasts!) and the Manchester Museum (which has an extremely impressive Egyptology section) and, just a tram ride away (on the Metrolink) over the border in the ‘twin city’ of Salford, there are the Imperial War Museum North and the Lowry gallery. Shopping is a major activity in Manchester – spiritual home of WAGs – and locals are particularly proud to have branches of upmarket department stores Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, as well as the massive out-of-town shopping mall The Trafford Centre, accessible by bus or Metrolink.

Culturally, the city’s Royal Exchange theatre and Bridgewater Hall concert venue are highlights, and as you can imagine from a place which produced such bands as The Smiths and Oasis the live music and nightlife scene is thriving; try the Northern Quarter for quirky bars and live music; Deansgate Locks for drinking as well as comedy; the famous ‘gay village’ around Canal Street with its friendly pubs and clubs.

Manchester is also a usual stop for major music tours, the MEN Arena and Manchester Central (formerly GMEX) being the main venues. For food, Manchester has its fair share of cafes and restaurants of all styles and budgets, but is most famous for the ‘Curry Mile’ in the Rusholme area with its many neon-lit Indian and South Asian restaurants – although the quality is variable, so ask around for particular recommendations!

If you want to see a Premiership football match, the North West is the best place for it, as we have many clubs in the top flight – Manchester United, Manchester City, and nearby Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers, as well as the two Merseyside clubs Liverpool and Everton. Most clubs operate stadium tours if you aren’t lucky enough to catch a live match.

Liverpool

Liverpool is best known internationally as the home of The Beatles, and although the locals are proud enough of their Fab Four – there are tours and exhibitions dedicated to them as well as The Cavern Club – they are keen to show they have developed since the Mersey Beat days. 2008 sees Liverpool become the European Capital Of Culture and the city is gearing up in a big style. Already noted for its museums and heritage sites – the Albert Docks, the Tate Liverpool, the Walker Art Gallery – major exhibitions are already being put into place and you can’t seem to turn a corner without bumping into some art.

Further North

If you head north of Blackpool, you'll find yourself in the magnificent Lake District. England's largest National Park includes Scafell - its highest mountain, Wastwater - its deepest lake, and thriving communities like Keswick and Bowness-on-Windermere.

The Lake District is intimately associated with English literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. Thomas Gray was the first to bring the region to attention, when he wrote a journal of his Grand Tour in 1769, but it was William Wordsworth whose poems were most famous and influential. Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", inspired by the sight of daffodils on the shores of Ullswater, remains one of the most famous in the English language. Out of his long life of eighty years, sixty were spent amid its lakes and mountains, first as a schoolboy at Hawkshead, and afterwards living in Grasmere (1799-1813) and Rydal Mount (1813-50). Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey became known as the Lake Poets.

During the early 20th century, the children's author Beatrix Potter was in residence at Hill Top Farm, setting many of her famous Peter Rabbit books in the Lake District. Arthur Ransome lived in several areas of the Lake District, and set a number of his Swallows and Amazons books in a fictionalised Lake District setting.