Calderstones Park

Undoubtedly one of my favourite south Liverpool parks, Calderstones genuinely has something for everyone. I regularly come here for a stroll with my Canon and I’ll never get bored of it.
There is so much to do from walking to fishing and if you’ve got children the play area is fantastic. The Coach house Gallery, situated in the park, has exhibitions from time to time.
Every summer the ICAP Liverpool International Tennis Tournament comes to Calderstones drawing in big stars and crowds. If you’re in the area give it a go. If you’re more player than spectator practice your skills on the public tennis courts.
For me the magic of Calderstones is its landscape and wildlife, a real treat for any budding photographer. Squirrels merrily jumping around from tree to tree, ducks and swans gliding on the lake effortlessly while the crafty Heron stalks its prey from the island in the middle-​it is simply a pleasure to watch. Calderstones is home to the Allerton Oak, a bent-​double tree which is really showing its age.
There is so much to see and do here I couldn’t possibly write about it all, so if you’re ever at a loose end or after a fun family day out then give Calderstones a go. You won’t regret it.

Calderstones Park is cheating. The areas surrounding it are all so lush and verdant (at least in the summertime) that the park doesn’t really get a chance to outshine anything else. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell where it actually starts. Walking past you tend to just be absorbed into it, like liquid into the kidney.
Named after the Calderstones, six neolithic sandstones that sit beneath a glasshouse, the park gets full star ratings for the way it sublimely achieves a sense of infinity. Strolling beneath a canopy twittering with feathered things or past the lake splattered with goose crap, it feels like you’ll never actually reach one of the park’s boundaries. It’s huge.
Another historical landmark is the Allerton Oak, an ancient tree that is reputedly a millennium old. Its state of decrepitude is said to be the result of an 1864 explosion of the gunpowder ship Lotty Sleigh three miles away on the Mersey.
The fact its peppered with fascinating nuggets of history and is larger than both of our houses put together means Calderstones Park is a great place to pretend to know where you’re going.

Calderstones is one of my favourite parks in Liverpool, mainly because of all of it’s different «sections». It’s a fab place to walk around on a sunny day, one of my favourite places to chill out under the blossom trees.
I went along to the tennis last week, which Calderstones has been home to since 2002. It was my first experience of professional tennis, and it was fab. chillin’ out in Caldy’s with a cold diet coke, watching Martina Hingis. It’s great for the city and I hope it continues to grow.