A well earned day off for the humans and Dad had promised to take us to the beach, accompanied by our very special guest Ben de Woof 🖤🖤🖤
Ben is a border collie and is obsessed with water, so we were going to have some fun in the sea, but first breakfast and a stop off at one of our new favourites, Café On The Corner in the historic town of Knutsford. Every time we drive back through Knutsford on the way home from a day out, we see the sign and Mum asks Dad, “why is it a historic town?”, to which he replies “absolutely no idea”, so I thought I best find out. Apparently, according to at least the ‘Cheshire Historic Towns Survey’, “the town did not develop into an industrial centre, instead it became a desirable location for the residences of the affluent and aristocratic. Accordingly, the town contains a large number of Georgian and Victorian buildings and Knutsford is one of Cheshire’s best preserved historic towns and therefore it is a popular tourist attraction.”
Well there you go! A bit of education for you, with a quote and everything! It is a very nice place, you could say a bit posh as well. We ordered our usual Turkish breakfast and Ben wolfed down a pig’s ear… literally. It went down as fast as it came back up. Oh dear! We always get a warm welcome and food made with love at this family run business, so we’d highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in town. After breakfast we had a short walk around Tatton Park and Mum could not believe Dad hadn’t taken her before. We could get so close to the deer, it was amazing. Time to go now though, so we set off towards Formby.
Formby beach is a fairly unique place. Its precious dunes are surrounded by woodland, so it’s the perfect place to explore. There are two National Trust car parks, both which you have to pay for, but it all goes towards the upkeep of the area, so is a small price to pay. The parking machines take cash only, although you can pay by app as long as you can get a phone signal! Dad couldn’t but luckily there was a very nice National Trust man taking payment by card. From the car park, we took the picturesque walk through the woods and to this wonderful bit of coastline. We noticed a section of rubble on the beach and were intrigued. We learnt it was because a former Army Barracks is buried amongst the dunes and when the waves cause them to erode, it means you can often seen rubble on the beach. More education, I’m on fire today! You can call me Professor de Bear from now on. If you’re interested, you can read more about it on the National Trust website.
It goes without saying that our four-legged friend had a great time splashing in the sea, whilst Mum hunted for seashells. We spent a good few hours running up and down the beach and exploring the woods. Boasting miles of sandy beaches as well as hundreds of acres of woodland, Formby is a beautiful place for a dog walk all year around and you may even catch a glimpse of a red squirrel or two.