Best Places to Visit in Lancashire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in Lancashire are Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve, Lower Leck Beck, Avenham and Miller Parks, White Spout and Church of St Walburge.
Lancashire pairs the Georgian and Victorian city of Preston with quiet uplands and reclaimed industrial ground. In Preston, the adjoining Avenham and Miller Parks slope down to the Ribble in Victorian style, and the limestone spire of St Walburge's church soars higher than any parish church in England, a landmark for miles around.
Out of town, old industrial workings have turned green at the Longton Brickcroft reserve, where flooded clay pits now hold lakes and birds just southwest of the city. The county's wilder edges show at Lower Leck Beck, where a limestone gorge and one of the great cave systems of Britain lie on the border with Cumbria, and at the remote moorland fall of White Spout in Littledale below the Forest of Bowland.
Some are grand town landmarks, others quiet reserves and moorland corners. Here are five places to visit across Lancashire.
Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve
Photo: Gerald McKenna via Geograph.org.uk
Longton Brickcroft is a nature reserve at Longton, southwest of Preston, on the site of a former brickworks whose clay pits flooded to form lakes. Around eleven hectares of ponds, woodland, meadow and marsh make up the reserve, which became a local nature reserve in 1998 and has held a Green Flag ever since.
Visitors walk the paths around three large ponds, with smaller dipping ponds, a visitor centre with limited hours, toilets and free parking. It is a spot for birdwatching and pond life.
Lower Leck Beck
Photo: N Chadwick via Geograph.org.uk
Lower Leck Beck threads through limestone country where Lancashire meets Cumbria, on the fringe of the Yorkshire Dales below the fells of Leck Fell. This is classic karst, and the beck is bound up with one of Britain's great cave systems: water vanishing underground amid the rocks of Ease Gill re-emerges further down at Leck Beck Head, part of the longest cave system in the country.
Above the surface, the standout is a steep-sided gorge at Ease Gill Kirk, all leaning rock walls and gaping cave mouths, met on a long circular walk from Leck village. The upland shafts are fenced off, so keep to the route.
Avenham and Miller Parks
Photo: David Dixon via Geograph.org.uk
Avenham and Miller Parks are two adjoining Victorian parks on the banks of the River Ribble in Preston, laid out together by Edward Milner and opened in 1867. Avenham is the larger, more natural park sloping down to the river, while Miller Park next to it is smaller and formal, with a fountain, a grotto and a statue of the Earl of Derby.
Riverside walks, a Japanese garden and the old tram-road bridge across the Ribble draw visitors, with a pavilion cafe near the middle. The layout has changed little since the 1880s.
White Spout
Photo: Tom Richardson via Geograph.org.uk
White Spout is a modest moorland waterfall high in Littledale, out on the edge of Lancashire's Forest of Bowland and a few miles east of Lancaster. It tumbles down a minor stream called Whitespout Gutter, part of the high grazing country whose water eventually feeds Udale Beck and Artle Beck.
Remote and unspoilt, the fall carries no signposts and no facilities of any kind, and reaching it means walking across rough open ground on the Littledale circuit. The finest view comes from right beside the beck, where the path crosses near the old shooting butts.
Save it for a clear day and decent boots.
Church of St Walburge
Photo: David Robinson via Geograph.org.uk
The Church of St Walburge is a large Roman Catholic church in Preston, built in the 1850s to a Gothic design by Joseph Hansom, the architect who also gave his name to the hansom cab. Its limestone spire rises to about ninety-four metres, the tallest spire of any church in England other than the cathedrals at Salisbury and Norwich.
Inside is a wide nave under a high hammerbeam roof, with a large rose window. Since 2014 it has been run as a shrine with daily traditional Latin Mass, and the spire opens occasionally for booked climbs.
FAQs
What is special about St Walburge's church?
St Walburge's church in Preston has a limestone spire rising to about ninety-four metres, the tallest spire of any church in England other than the cathedrals at Salisbury and Norwich. Built in the 1850s to a Gothic design by Joseph Hansom, who also gave his name to the hansom cab, it is now a shrine with a daily traditional Latin Mass, and the spire opens occasionally for booked climbs.
Which places in Lancashire are good for wildlife and a walk?
Longton Brickcroft, on flooded former clay pits southwest of Preston, has paths around three large ponds with a visitor centre and free parking, good for birdwatching. Avenham and Miller Parks in Preston offer riverside walks, a Japanese garden and a pavilion cafe along the Ribble.
Where can you find the wilder, out-of-the-way spots in Lancashire?
Lower Leck Beck, on the Cumbrian border below Leck Fell, runs through limestone gorge and cave country reached on a long circular walk from Leck village, and White Spout is a remote, unsigned moorland fall in Littledale below the Forest of Bowland, both for those happy to walk over rough ground.
Conclusion
Lancashire pairs the parks and spires of Preston with quiet uplands and reclaimed ground. In the city, Avenham and Miller Parks slope down to the Ribble in Victorian style, and the limestone spire of St Walburge's rises higher than any parish church in England.
Out of town, the flooded clay pits of Longton Brickcroft now hold lakes and birds, while the county's wilder edges show at the limestone gorge and cave country of Lower Leck Beck on the Cumbrian border, and at the remote moorland fall of White Spout in Littledale below the Forest of Bowland. From soaring spire to hidden gorge, these are the places to seek out across Lancashire.
