St. ANNE'S

 PARK to PARK

Nosey Parkers :- Danny, Jim, John, Anthony, Mark.

A most unusual occurrence !  A ticket dispenser on a car park that was simplicity itself to use. Well done St Anne's council.

Having parked so easily we set off to find a cafe for our start the day brew. John recommended one he had used before saying it was excellent. It wasn't ! The coffee was awful.

We moved on to visit an antiques emporium which Danny told us had been used to film parts of such TV shows as "Bargain Hunt"  and  Antiques Roadshow". It was rather impressive.

Just inside we spotted guitars. One of which John thought was the same model as his first guitar many years ago.  No.  It was a "Hofner Congressman" his had been a "Hofner Senator" Both were F hole, archtop acoustics .  Jazz rather than folk guitars. Sorry... my passion. I can almost smell your boredom so I shall move on.

Mike on the other hand was more interested in a juke box and the discs it contained. Mostly sixties numbers.

Just across the road was the park which together with easy car parking  led to the title of this blog.

The gates should have been a clue to it being a wonderful Tardis of a park.

The first thing to attract our attention was the very impressive war memorial.

We continued our exploration of this fascinating little park. "Multum in Parvo" was the appropriate term to describe it. (Colloquially "A lot in a Little".)

Danny, who had been here before, led us to the pretty little Lake. Here we decided to have our Butties. Jim, on the opposite bank, is  I think, taking photos and using his phone ?

The park offered lots of benches to choose from.  All well maintained or new.  There were also lots of litter bins ( see previous photo ) keeping the grounds neat and tidy. The whole place was a credit to St Anne's council and the volunteer workers.

Lunch demolished we continued our mini-tour of the park.

"I beg your pardon. I never promised you a rose garden." (Lynn Anderson song) Well somebody did and here it is. Another delightful piece of the park.

Every few yards brought us to something interesting to stop and enjoy.

And of course regular readers will know that bridges are like magnets to Meanderthals . We always pose (pause) for a "Bridge Photo.😊👍

Hardly able to drag ourselves away we did eventually return past the war memorial and out of the "Ashton Gardens"

Out of the gardens and after quick search we found some public toilets (Elderly gentlemen yu know) near to the railway station.

Some steps led up to the High Street where Danny suggested NO  insisted we should not simply follow the high street but leave it to follow a parallel street towards the pier. ( This was fine as we had no set plan for the day and suggestions from anyone were invited and welcomed.)

Well done again Danny it was a fascinating street. NOT a chain store or a regular high Street shop in sight👽😟😕

Even to the doggy fraternity (or sorority ?) Yes I do mean you bitches !

There were sites (sights ? ) too numerous to include before we arrived at the beach

As we arrived at the promenade a strip of sunshine on the horizon revealed a very faint outline of the Welsh Hills.  Very difficult  to photograph. If you close your eyes, cross your fingers and make a wish you might imagine you too can see them.

'onest we could see them. but we didn't have cameras with lenses powerful enough to pick them out.   ͢

The side of St. Anne's  pier.   How much more interesting and exciting can our day get ???

Can't visit St Anne's without paying our respects to LES can we.

Didn't realise that Les was so tall 😉

Finished our flask in the comfortable shelters surrounding Les' statue.  

Jim, who had come in his own car, departed BEFORE we took the photos.  Then back to the car and an early return to Preston with jobs to be done at home.

SEE YOU SOON

JW