Lancashire Launches New Visitor Guide
Did you know that Lancashire with over 60 million annual visitors is the most visited county in the North West, and each year welcomes more visitors to its country, coast and city attractions than The Lake District? The new Lancashire Visitor Guide is our invitation to experience Lancashire’s great hospitality and to plan your next stay in the feel-good county.
Each New Year we set out with good intentions to walk more, cycle more, spend more time in the great outdoors, eat better and generally look after ourselves and those dearest to us. In 2013 look to Lancashire’s picturesque lanes and peaceful valleys, its untamed coastline and welcoming attractions for a short break or family holiday, with well-being at its heart.
Perhaps you’ll find your own ‘precious’ on Lancashire’s Tolkien Trail, have a cycling adventure in the majestic Forest of Bowland, complete that much talked about and challenging coastal walk, unwind in the county’s newest spas and feed the body as well as the soul on that long promised gourmet break; whatever it is that makes you feel good, puts a spring in your step and the colour back in your cheeks, you’ll find it in Lancashire in 2013.
Find inspiration for your next stay in the new Lancashire Visitor Guide 2013 available now at visitlancashire.com or from your local visitor information centre.
Read about the legacy of Lancashire 2012 and the impact of the once every 20years Preston Guild, the Open Golf Championship, and the 400th Anniversary of the Lancashire Witch Trials.
Visitors this year can cycle The Guild Wheel, a new 21 mile route encircling Preston, taking in urban parks and rural attractions including Brockholes nature reserve. One of the Guild 2012’s flagship projects, The Guild Wheel also provides locals with more sustainable and healthy routes to work or recreation.
Thousands of Golf fans were reminded of Lancashire’s great golf courses in 2012 and vowed to return in 2013. The family run Dalmeny Hotel, in Lytham St Annes, was one of those that benefited most from the influx of visitors and was also winner of the Lancashire Tourism Awards, Large Hotel of the Year Award 2012. Generations continue to holiday in this superbly equipped and family-friendly hotel which now also offers the height of seaside chic, in the form of new and elegant beach huts for hire on the promenade. Hotels boasting their own golf courses such as Mytton Fold Hotel & Golf Complex, also welcomed guests and groups from all over the world and continue to offer great value golfing breaks in their stunning Ribble Valley location in 2013.
The 400th Anniversary of the Lancashire Witch Trials highlighted some of Lancashire’s most horrible histories and inspired artists and performers to create new memorials to those accused of acts of witchcraft. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s words are now inscribed on way markers on the newly signed Witches Walk from Pendle to Lancaster (51 Miles) and local sculptor Phillippe Handford, is amongst a group of artists who developed the new Pendle Sculpture Trail in Aitken Wood, close to Pendle Hill. Visitors this year can learn more than ever about the Lancashire witches on walks, driving trails, in castles and museums with areas dedicated to the witches as part of the legacy of 2012.
The Lancashire Visitor Guide 2013 also features new landmark attractions such as Rossall Tower, Lancashire’s very own leaning tower, a new and striking observation point on the Fleetwood shoreline. Use the guide to plan a grand day out in Blackpool taking in the Pleasure Beach’s newest ride, Wallace & Gromit’s Thrill-O-Matic, which opens over Easter. If ‘more cheese Gromit’ is your thing , read about Dewlay Cheesemaker’s new Visitor Centre and Cheese Shop in Garstang, where you can view traditional cheesemaking and pick up one or two award winning Lancashire cheeses to take home.
For art and culture try Lancaster’s new First Fridays programme, offering visitors the chance to sample free art or entertainment in unexpected locations across this vibrant and fascinating destination.
Stay at The Ashton, England’s best B&B Visit England Gold Winner 2012, and you’ll find a weekend break is simply not long enough to explore Lancaster’s boutique galleries, castle, museums, theatres, markets, independent shops and restaurants.
This definitive guide to Lancashire also includes mouth-watering Lancashire recipes, a directory of quality places to stay and eat, as well as festivals, trails and ideas for great days out in Lancashire – isn’t it time you visited the feel-good county?
For more information and to download the Lancashire Visitor Guide 2013 go to visitlancashire.com
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Media enquiries: Anna Izza, Communications Manager, Marketing Lancashire
01772 426 459 or [email protected]
Notes to Editors
1. Marketing Lancashire is the new name for Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board (from 1st April 2012)
Our activities in marketing and communications, commercial membership, `Welcome to Excellence` training and place marketing are all designed to grow the visitor economy and develop the destination as a great place to visit, live and work.
In 2011 Lancashire attracted just over 60 million visitors who contributed £3.37 billion to the local economy and helped support 55,603 jobs.