Category Archives: News

Bidston Observatory is for sale. We are most concerned about the potential consequences for Bidston Hill, and we disapprove of the manner in which the sale is being conducted. An advertisement appeared in Wirral News last week. The land on offer includes the Observatory and car park, as well as the site of the former Braehead Cottage. The car park and Braehead Cottage site are being marketed as potential development sites. Prospective buyers have only until 30th November to make their “best and final offer”, and to demonstrate that they have funds in place. The first viewings are scheduled for Friday, which makes it impossible for new buyers or a … Continue reading →

Well, it’s that time of year again! After a great summer we are back to the seasonal storms and the cold weather is on the way. Do not despair, we are working on future events to see us through to springtime! After the success of our Windmill openings, Teddy Bears’ picnic, Rhododendron Walk and Fungal Foray during the summer, we have recently enjoyed a well attended (scary) Ghost Walk followed by a very interesting Tree Walk. I would like to thank all of the committee members and Friends for participating and making these events possible. I would like to say a special thank you to Mandy and Stephen Pickles for … Continue reading →

Have you noticed the black-and-white plaques that have recently appeared on the Heritage Trail posts? These are QR codes. QR, or Quick Response, codes are a kind of two-dimensional bar code that encode text. We’re using them to encode the URLs, or web addresses, of the Heritage Trail pages. Most smartphones have apps that can read QR codes and bring up the matching web page in your smartphone’s web browser. Happy Trails!

Here’s some recent YouTube videos featuring Bidston Hill. Don Woods’ Up On The Hill has some great aerial views of the Windmill, Observatory and Lighthouse. Alan Parker’s Bidston Hill & Tam O’Shanter Farm has footage from 2008 (including an interview with ranger Nic Harding) and 2013.

Our Teddy Bears’ Picnic on Friday afternoon was a big success and very well attended. All of the children (and parents from comments we have received) had a great time and got involved with the events of the afternoon, from hunting Teddies, weighing and measuring their own favourite bear, to completing and designing/colouring their very own Teddy birth certificate. There were some fantastic ideas and I think the children were delighted with their work which they took home with pride! Thanks to all the parents for attending and getting into the spirit of things, this is much appreciated and helps for the planning of future events on the Hill – … Continue reading →

Welcome to our new web site. We hope you like it. Our thanks to VCA Wirral and Phil Davies for their help and co-operation during the transition, and for getting us on the web in the first place. If you used the contact form recently and haven’t had a reply, it’s likely that we’ve lost your message. So please contact us again, and sorry for the inconvenience.  

What is happening on the Hill? The Windmill will be open again on Saturday, 10th August, between 10:00am and 12noon with last entry at 11:45am (admission is free). The Windmill has been well preserved internally and is certainly worth a visit with great views from the top. Bidston Lighthouse will also be open on the same day from 11:00am until 1:00pm again, admission is free but you must be a member of the Friends of Bidston Hill to enter. You can join on the day and a family membership is only £5.00 for 12 months. On Friday, 30th August, we are having our Teddy Bears Picnic (weather permitting). This is … Continue reading →

We had a great day on Saturday and hope you enjoyed the opening of the Windmill and Lighthouse followed by the Rhododendron walk. I would like to thank the Friends, members of the committee and Nic our ranger for making these events possible and I would particularly like to thank Mandy and Stephen Pickles for opening the Lighthouse to the Friends. We are so lucky to have these historic buildings still in existence for all to enjoy and with the help of the Friends they will be here for a long time to come. The history of both of these remarkable structures is fascinating as I am sure you found … Continue reading →

I would like to thank everyone that attended our AGM on Wednesday, we had a really good meeting which I felt was very informative. I hope that all of the work the committee has been involved with over the last 12 months, with the help of the Friends and Rangers, was fully appreciated by all at the meeting. I am sure that our ideas for the immediate future in terms of event planning were of interest to those in attendance. It would be good if this information could be passed on to other family members, friends and relatives. Keep checking the events calendar on our website for present and future … Continue reading →