Croxteth Hall Country Park and Littlewood

Littlewood is one of Knowsley's oldest woods, on the former coach road linking Knowsley and Croxteth Parks. It is mostly oak, with attractive spring flowers including red campion and interesting fungi and insect life.

Croxteth Hall Country Park is at the heart of what was once a great country estate stretching hundreds of square miles and was the ancestral home of the Molyneux family, the Earls of Sefton. After the death of the last Earl it was given to the City of Liverpool.

The estate has four main attractions - the historic Hall, Croxteth Home Farm and the Victorian Walled Garden, and a 500 acre country park.

The hall is open to visitors, who find themselves stepping back in time to an era of opulence. The lives of both the 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' inhabitants of the hall during its heyday are revealed in fascinating detail.

The estate is still a working farm, with livestock that will delight youngsters.

A quiet stroll around the Walled Garden reveals the ingenuity of bygone gardeners - heated 'flue' walls, ornate fruit trees, a mushroom house and exotic fruit in greenhouses.

1. From the hall, take the curving path towards the River Alt (signposted 'Walled Garden').

2. At the crossroads go straight on.

3. Cross the Alt and bear right between the houses.

4. Where the path becomes overgrown straight on, follow the path on the right, crossing a tarmaced path, then follow the track round to the left, re-entering the wood.

5. This path leads all the way to the motorway, where you make a U-turn.

6. Turn right just before the lodge.

7. Turn left at the T junction.

8. Turn right and recross the Alt.

9. Turn right at the crossroads.

10. Bear left back towards the hall.

11. Take the first right.

12. Bear left and cross the Alt for the fourth time.

13. Arrive back at the hall.