I went to one of the North West's most-recommended beauty spots - and got lost

I like to think that I get both my son and my dog out to a wide variety of places, but we’d never been here.

So, one sunny Saturday, I decided that would change, and Fairy Glen it was.

I found a map on West Lancashire Council’s website, I got a post code from Google (with a warning locals don’t like all the visitors and you might get clamped), and off we set. Travelling from South Ribble, it was an easy enough route down the M6 for 20 minutes and off we came at the Parbold exit, and straight down the A5209.

And then nothing, which was a theme of the day.

No signs, other than people’s houses being called things like ‘Glen View’ and a layby with a suspicious amount of cars in it. We hedged our bets and thought it must be here. We were actually heading in the wrong direction before conceeding and asking a local rambler if we were in the right direction. We weren’t, and were show that you get into the Glen via a little road off the A5209, on the left as you head up to the summit of Parbold Hill.

We found that, and then noticed a small opening immediately left again, which looked right. But again, no signs for this beauty spot that even the council promote.

Inside, it was a green oasis, with small waterfalls and a stream, and made nicer by local people’s efforts to decorate tree stumps with glitter and coins. There’s a mixed terrain of bridges, steep steps, and smoother push-chair friendly paths. But you’ll have to guess where you’re going because the sign boxes are all empty (and graffitied). Oh, and watch out for the flies hanging around stagnant water.

If you stay on the right path and inside the woodland, I believe it’s about an hour’s walk. I wouldn’t know, because without really realising, we took a path out of the trees, over some fields, over some stiles, past a house, and up a very steep incline back to the main road and out by Miller and Carter. And we wouldn’t have done that if we hadn’t have bumped into a friendly resident.

It was a nice trip, but not what we intended - and it could have been stressful if we hadn’t have met helpful people giving us directions. Although we found the famous ice cream van at the top of the hill, so all’s well that ends well.

It’s pretty enough, but not special enough to rush back to any time soon, in my opinion. It reminds me of Mason’s Wood in Fulwood.

It’s also worth noting that there’s no toilet facilities in Fairy Glen.