Tossed by the tides, fêted by the fashionable, murdered by the marshes... Who could have guessed that a huddle of shacks outside the gates of a deer park would become a premier port and modish resort traversed by world-famous prodigies like Handel and Turner? Picturesque Parkgate, on the Wirral peninsula, is the perfect place to explore the dramatic and dynamic way in which landscapes evolve when man collides with nature.

From its slender red-brick tower (built by a pharmacist) to its converted corn mill and very own Carnegie library, neighbouring Neston is a market town of stunning architectural surprises. Cholera, coal mining and commerce have all played a part in its history, but most striking of all is the extraordinary number of benevolent entrepreneurs whose philanthropy continues to enrich its environs and community spirit today.