Enjoy a stroll around the peaceful pine woodlands and look out for the endangered red squirrel.

The woods here are one of seventeen red squirrel reserves in northern England; the reds are attracted by the large numbers of conifers, as they feed on the ripe pine cones.

The asparagus grown among the sand dunes at Formby is world-famous. In the 1930s it was so popular that it was served to passengers on the luxury liners leaving from Liverpool. Work is currently underway to develop an 'asparagus trail', which will lead visitors through the heart of this historic landscape.

The beautiful dunes form a part of one of the largest areas of dune habitat within the UK and provide an excellent home for many rare and endangered species such as the Natterjack Toad and the Northern Dune Tiger Beetle.

Adjacent to Formby Beach, see our listing on it for further information.

If you're looking for a nice place to spend an afternoon you can't go far wrong than Red Squirrel Wood at Formby Point in Lancashire and if the weather is good you could easily fill a day there. It's a National Trust area and is a wood where red squirrels live, unthreatened by their grey counterparts. It is a little bit of luck as to whether you see the squirrels though, when we went we saw one for definite and thought we saw another up in the trees! Don't let that put you off going though as the walk around is the wood is lovely with surprises around corners and a little further down the track are great sand dunes which lead to a wonderful beach. The kids thoroughly enjoy running up and down the sand dunes and when you get down onto the beach, for the more active, you can walk for miles uninterrupted.

With the wood and sand dunes being a National Trust area there is a small charge for parking and they also sell food for the squirrels. There are toilets and baby change facilities at the start of the walk around the wood and the walk is well signposted with posters showing where certain landmarks/area of interest are. The only draw back is that there is nowehere to get a drink or anything to eat, unless you fancy an ice cream from the ice cream van that is located by the entrance. There is plenty of designated parking along the road and further down is a large car park just by the dunes.

- Sue Simpson / September 07

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-formby.htm