The original plan for a trip to this area was an overnight stay for our wedding anniversary, we have visited Lytham St Annes on numerous occasions in the past and is a typical seaside resort albeit a small one.

Lytham and St Annes, while geographically connected and often referred to collectively as Lytham St Annes, are distinct towns with their own character and history. St Annes is a Victorian seaside resort with a pier and seafront gardens, while Lytham is an older, more residential town with a windmill and a green on the waterfront.  St Annes faces the Irish Sea, while Lytham faces the Ribble Estuary. Lytham is the older settlement, historically a fishing village, while St Annes was founded as a new seaside resort in the 1870’s.

We both decided that we would also do a POTA Activity as part of our trip, so we researched and found that a 3fer plus a Bunker plus a WWFF would be able to be operated from Fairhaven Lake GB-3162 which sat in the Ribble and Alt Estuary GB-0279 and GB-1606 Lancashire Coastal Trail ran along the main promenade.

The non POTA locations were B/G-0428 ROC Lytham and GFF-0145 Ribble and Alt.

Fairhaven Lake is a saltwater lake located between Lytham and St. Annes, a popular attraction in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. It is known for its rich wildlife, having at least 29 species of Birds, well-maintained gardens, and various facilities.  The lake is the haven for these birds, as it is sheltered from the sea and attracting them during the autumn and winter months. 

On the day we were here, we photographed only a few ducks and a couple of swans, the pic above combining both of them at the side of the lake.

The site covers an area of 19.5 hectares (including the lake) and was created in the 1890’s by Fairhaven Estates Company who had very grand ideas. The original intention was to extend the sea wall and the gardens as far as St Anne’s, however this was abandoned after heavy seas flooded the lake in 1896. The next twenty years were years of gradual progress.

A landing stage and the Pagoda shaped boathouse were constructed. This was designed to contain living quarters for the Manager and an area where boats could be built. In 1926 at a cost of £34,000.00 the lake and surrounding park were bought from the Fairhaven Estates Company and presented to the Corporation of Lytham St Anne’s by Lord Ashton of Lancaster.

Fairhaven Lake has proved to be very popular with regatta, water skiing displays and hydroplane racing attracting crowds of up to fifteen thousand in the 1950’s and 60’s. More recently activity on the lake has declined although a new pleasure craft – ‘Jubilee’ – was launched in 2002 and provides lake cruises.

The Council was successful in securing an investment of £1.48M from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) Parks for People Programme in 2018 which provided funding to deliver an overall £2.9M project to restore Fairhaven Lake and Gardens to its former glory as one of the most popular parks on the Fylde Coast. The project outcomes were to restore buildings, reintroduction of historic landscaping, installation of new pathways, creation of new leisure facilities and the introduction of an annual volunteer programme and activity / event programme. The evaluation report details the delivery of this restoration project.

So Lytham was chosen as the area for the Activity and more precisely to ensure the 3fer plus 2 other programs could be combined as one we would be parking at the eastern end of the lake and although the sun’s shining it was cold and windy, so an activity from the car was decided upon. I would be using the FT857D along with 2 mag mounts, one with a 20m Ampro Whip and the other a 17m Ampro whip.

I started off on 20m ssb as usual, and it was slow, but then because I had spotted using Ham2K PoLo, I was posted by the Bunker hunters and the WWFF Hunters. Soon getting over 10 to qualify the POTA, then over 25 to qualify the Bunker, struggling near the end as I usually do to get the 44 in the log for Flora Fauna. I had to go up and down hunting other stations on 20m. Finally getting 45 in the log with only 3 on 17m.

So overall a success on all 3 Programs, worthwhile combining all of them from the one spot.

Fairhaven Lake was created from the sea as the sign states, and definitely provided a shelter from the Irish Sea weather today at least. so well worth trying the same as I did on this day. I would suggest trying to do it out of season as its a popular place with visitors , especially if you plan to set up with a portable station as more care would be needed to maintain a distance from the Dog Walkers and the lake visitors.

Lytham as whole is a good place to visit if you are interested in history or wildlife, I spotted this building below and because it was a Christian church which looked like it had Mosque like domes, decided to grab a pic while we were there.

Another interesting piece of historic fact was that during the War, the locals within Lytham, funded that I believe to be the total cost of a Spitfire Aircraft, a memorial statue of which is close by the Lake and is constantly maintained by volunteers locally also.

So overall a pleasant trip for our Wedding Annivarsary and a successful POTA/BOTA/WWFF activation. we headed off to our Motel for the night situated just out side the Larger Seaside Resort of Blackpool, for a Celebrationary Steak and a couple of glasses wine.

Thank you once again dear reader for reaching the end, I hope you enjoyed my Review and found it interesting, so until next Time, 73 from me G1JPV and 88 from Elaine G21209