Walks near Liverpool by train

Path loop around Hawarden village passing the church, the Gladstone Library and the grounds of Hawarden Castle.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Hawarden Church: Parish church in the centre of Hawarden, typically open to visitors.

Gladstone's Library: Founded in 1902 by Prime Minister W.E. Gladstone; the UK's only residential library and a unique literary institution.

Hawarden Castle grounds: Parkland surrounding Hawarden Castle, William Gladstone's family seat; the public can enter via the main gate.

Time: 1h–1h30

Walk details: Transport for Wales (tips, photos and turn-by-turn directions).

Hard-surfaced circuit around Flint Castle and along the Wales Coast Path with saltmarsh and Dee Estuary views across to the Wirral.

Coastal: almost all along the coast.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Flint Castle: The earliest of Edward I's Welsh castles, distinctive for its great detached tower; began the chain of English-built fortresses in Wales.

Flintshire Guardian: Three-metre-tall sculpture at Flint Point looking out across the Dee Estuary toward Hilbre Island.

Dee Estuary: Wide tidal estuary on the North Wales/Wirral border, fringed with saltmarsh and rich in birdlife.

Time: 1h30–3h

Walk details: Transport for Wales (tips, photos and turn-by-turn directions).

Mostly level themed route along quiet footpaths, lanes and woodland tracks to Lathom Park, tracing the path of First World War horses to the Lathom Remount Depot, visiting the historic Lathom Park Chapel.

Warnings: A few stiles and steps.

Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).

Short, flat: the village of Rufford, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust's Mere Sands Wood (42 ha of lakes, woodland, wildfowl and waders) and Tudor Rufford Old Hall.

Mere Sands Wood: A 42-hectare Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve of lakes and woodland rich in wildfowl and waders.

Walk details: Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).

Walk details: Rail Rambles.

Walk details: Rail Rambles.

Boggy muddy ground at wetter times of year. Stafford Common is an unusually large surviving common land near a major Midlands centre with origins in medieval townland for grazing, protected by parliament 1839 and 1939.

Time: 3h30–7h30

Warnings: Comparatively busy road at Whitgreave; boggy ground when wet.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Impressive views across southern and central Staffordshire landscape. Walk traverses Staffordshire countryside from Penkridge to Stafford via the ruins of a neo-gothic manor on the site of Stafford's medieval castle.

Time: 3h–6h

Warnings: Busy road near Penkridge; care crossing main roads near Stafford.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Reverse direction: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Spectacular views across Cheshire plain. Countryside ridge walk with gritstone outcrops, woodland paths and fields. Mow Cop is where Primitive Methodism began in 1800 with mass prayer meetings by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes.

Hilly: two fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Time: 3h–6h

Warnings: Stiles and steps; steep downhill sections.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Pavements and Trent & Mersey Canal towpath, with steep steps over the canal bridges, finishing beside Westport Lake.

Time: 3h

Warnings: Steep steps over the canal bridges.

Walk details: North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership (tips and turn-by-turn directions).

Recommended: Coast path — Sefton Coastal Path.

Walk details: Railwalks.

Recommended: Coast path.

Walk details: Railwalks.