Day Trips from Manchester

In Brief. Lancaster is a (reasonably small) city in Lancashire with a long history, adjacent to the seaside town of Morecambe . The centre of Lancaster is hilly, but compact enough to be easily walkable, with places to visit including the castle, the river and several museums. Morecambe has a lengthy sea front overlooking the estuary of Morecambe Bay that includes cafes, a stone jetty, a statue of Eric Morecambe and a play park. The entrance to Lancaster Castle What's Here? The centre of Lancaster mostly consists of low-rise sandstone buildings, and the castle remains much the most imposing structure. Entry through the impressive 15th century gatehouse gives access to a large courtyard that hosts an excellent cafe and the ticket office for tours.  Informative one hour tours are the main way of seeing inside the castle, and turn out to focus on its role as a prison.  Indeed, the castle was in use as a prison until 2011, and still hosts courts; both prison wings and court buil...

In Brief. Land Rover provide off-road driving experiences using their vehicles at two sites in the North West, at Halewood in Merseyside and near Tarporley in Cheshire.  Recent purchasers of a Land Rover or Range Rover receive such an experience as an opportunity to try out their type of vehicle in the wild, and several options are available more widely. I booked a 1 hour experience, which explored varied tracks in a woodland location, providing an interesting introduction to off-road driving and a chance to experience some of the latest driving aids. Land Rovers at  Peckforton Castle What's Here? I chose the Peckforton Castle centre, in the hope of finding pleasant countryside, and indeed the setting is grand, with the welcome area based inside the walls of Peckforton Castle , a grand country house that is now a hotel. As pictured, a wide variety of Land Rover and Range Rover vehicles are available, and my experience took place in a full-sized Range Rover D350.  I ...