Wirral and Cheshire

Pensby Hall, Heswall, West Wirral
This is one of my first watercolour paintings. It is a view across to Pensby Hall. Unusually Pensby Hall is still a single residence and retains a lot of it's grounds.

Ring O' Bells Public House, West Kirby, West Wirral
This is the 'Ring 0' Bells' pub in old West Kirby. The new town has a leisure centre and a Marina, which is used for wind surfing and other watersports. The Marina is a large man-made 'lake' (about 2km long) which is refilled by the sea at high tide. Hilbre Island is just off the coast of West Kirby, which means at low tide you can walk across. But beware the tide changes very fast.

Shotwick Village, South Wirral
In shotwick you will find cottages and an ancient church. It's an isolated place surrounded by fields and farms. The village is near to the River Dee, at a point where invasion by the Welsh happened on a regular basis. That's why there are holes carved in the Church wall to hold arrows. Shotwick is further down the Peninsula than Heswall or Caldy, which means it's part of Cheshire.

Thronton Hough, West Wirral

This is the gatehouse to Lord Lever Hulme's house near Thornton Hough. Recently the house, and contents, were sold off at auction.

The house is now a hotel. Thornton Hough village (along with Port Sunlight) was built by Lord Lever to house his workers. Lord Lever founded Lever brothers, the company that started out selling soap.

Thornton Hough (and Lord Lever's House) are in located in mid Wirral.

Thurstastion is a small village between Heswall and West Kirby. In the background of this painting is the river Dee and beyond that the Welsh hills (where it appears to be raining).

This is a watercolour of Heswall beach. Heswall beach is actually one bank of the River Dee, which divides the Wirral from Wales. The beach is used for mooring fishing boats but not for swimming, as there is a pollution problem in the Dee. The foot hills of Wales are on the left (they are blue-ish due to the distance). Towards the right is Lower Heswall, a pleasant enough place (quite residential with a village at its centre). Directly ahead the River Dee flows out to the Irish sea. The estuary is silted up now. The river passes West Kirby and Hilbre Island.

This is the old part of Caldy. Caldy is a quiet place near to the River Dee. It's a collection of cottages and a church. There's no shops, but the village is right next to West Kirby.

The shore at Thurstation. Just before sunset on a winters day. The sun is low in the sky but hasn't set yet. The hills in the background are North Wales and the figure inthe foreground is my brother.

Burton Church, South Wirral
This is an oil pastel of Burton Church in South Wirral.

A view of the West Wirral landscape across the River Dee and across to North Wales.

The Rows, Chester
This is an oil pastel of part of the rows in Chester. The rows have shop entrances at street level and also entrances on first-floor level.

Another Watercolour of Pensby Hall, West Wirral. It was painted at the height of the summer of 2003. In comparison with the painting I painted in 1997, the trees and bushes hide much of the view of Pensby Hall.

A boat on Heswall Shore in Febraury, not long after some rough weather. I was very cold when I drew this. I was also completely stressed out before I started drawing the picture. Afterwards I was fine...stress busting!