Liverpool

A warehouse complex of brick and cast iron with no structural timber in it. Ships tied against the warehouse wall and unloaded straight in, so the quay needed no roof. It shut in 1972, was rebuilt through the 1980s and now holds galleries and restaurants.

The two birds on the roof face opposite ways. One watches the river, the other the city. The joke says the place falls down if they ever turn to each other. Put up in 1911, it was early for reinforced concrete in Britain.

The Anglican cathedral was begun in 1904 and not finished until 1978, one mass of red sandstone throughout. Getting to the tower top means two lifts and a final stair. It is wide enough inside that a hundred people still look like none.

The Catholic cathedral is a cone, with the altar at the centre and seating round it. A far bigger church was planned first; only its crypt got built before the money ran out, and it remains below. The lantern moves colour across the floor by the hour.

A narrow lane over a basement club, with named bricks set into the wall in rows. The original room came down in 1973; what stands now was rebuilt beside it with old bricks. In the evening live music fills the lane and a quiet look is not on offer.

Nothing is charged to come in, and the gallery hangs a good run of Pre-Raphaelite painting. Up the stairs the big canvases come first and the sculpture rooms sit off to one side upstairs, and wet afternoons bring the biggest crowds.

The same boat does commuter runs and sightseeing, and one circuit takes about fifty minutes. Out on deck the whole port slides past, though the wind will take a hat. Early morning and late afternoon it runs as a commuter service with no commentary.

A neoclassical block putting law courts and a concert hall under one roof, with cells still in the basement. Its great hall floor is about thirty thousand ceramic tiles, kept under boards and uncovered only a few days a year.

Do not walk out past the signs onto the mud. A hundred life-size iron figures stand in the sand at Crosby facing the sea, and the tide covers them to the shoulder before letting them go again. How many are visible changes by the hour.

A soap works built this village for its workers, so no design was used twice, and a hall, a school and a hospital went up before any pub did.

Vaults under the Albert Dock trace the band from first gigs to break-up in order. The Cavern stage and a yellow submarine interior are rebuilt full size. The audio guide includes the voice of Julia, John Lennon's sister.

A white building on the Pier Head waterfront, opened in 2011, telling the city's story for free. A carriage from the elevated railway, scrapped in the 1950s, survives inside and you can climb aboard. The big upstairs windows frame the Liver Building.

An Albert Dock warehouse covers the port and emigration, with no admission fee. Displays cover Titanic, registered here, and the Lusitania, sunk by a German U-boat. Upstairs, the International Slavery Museum shares the building.

Home of Liverpool FC; on non-match days a tour walks the dressing room and players' tunnel. Above the tunnel hangs the This Is Anfield sign that players slap on the way out. Tours are cut short or dropped on match days.

The National Trust looks after Mendips, where John Lennon grew up, and 20 Forthlin Road, Paul McCartney's home. The interiors are seen only on the Trust's own minibus tour, which takes a winter break. Groups are small, so book early.

An octagonal iron and glass house of 1896 inside the wide Sefton Park. Wartime bombing in 1941 blew out its glass, and it was restored. Entry is free, though weddings and events close it on some days.

Dunes and pines 30 minutes out of Liverpool by Merseyrail. Native red squirrels inhabit the trees and are easiest to spot in the early morning. At low tide, footprints of people and animals thousands of years old sometimes surface in the sand.

The Salvation Army children's home Lennon climbed into as a boy, its red iron gates now the emblem of the song. A visitor centre and garden opened in 2019, letting the public in for the first time. Mendips is a walk of 10 minutes or so.