Promenade Gardens at St Annes

The Promenade Gardens at St Annes cover a huge area of the seafront. Find them between the wide beachfront footpath and the highway, for most of the length of the promenade. It’s just a short walk from the main town centre of St Annes.

The gardens are attractive and well maintained and you can enjoy them throughout the year. Wander along the footpaths, follow the stream, cross the bridges and listen to the waterfalls. Join us for a look around –

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Thanks to Visit Fylde Coast reader Sue Massey for the next three photos

Features in the Promenade Gardens at St Annes

The many acres of seafront gardens include lots of features and bits of hidden history. Why don’t you go and take a look!

Paddling Pool and Bandstand

At St Annes seafront in the central area near the Pier there’s the children’s paddling pool and the adjacent bandstand. It’s extremely popular on warm, sunny days.

To the right of the Pier is the Peace and Happiness Garden. There you’ll find a statue of the late, great comedian, Les Dawson, who lived in St Annes.

Beyond the paddling pool and bandstand is the memorial to the Mexico Lifeboat Disaster, near to the conveniently placed public toilets.

Beyond this are the beautiful promenade gardens at St Annes with all their features and flowers. Explore yet more seafront shelters, ornamental features, water fountains and display bedding.

Winding Paths

The mature gardens include lawned areas, wind-pruned hedges and bushes, formally planted beds and winding paths.

A Rather Big Rockery!

A rockery runs along the beachward side of the gardens. Planted with salt tolerant shrubs and hedging, it offers some protection to the garden plants from the harsh winds blowing off the sea.

The rockery is a good example of Pulhamite rockwork, widely created at the time by the Pulham family in public gardens all over the country. Much of the rockery at St Annes is made in limestone.

However, Messrs Pulham & Son were renowned for making artificial stone from Portland cement. You can see more of their work at North Shore Cliffs in Blackpool.

The rockery extends from the Pier as far as the Island Complex and children’s rides (below). On the seaward side there are plenty of benches to sit awhile and enjoy the view. Treat yourself to an ice cream from the seafront kiosks!

Trains, Pitch and Putt & Splash!

At this southern end of the promenade gardens you’ll also find a variety of things to do.

Stop for a while and enjoy a brew at the cafe in the unusual setting of a train carriage. Then carry on with your walk through the gardens.

Nearby, set in between the gardens, is the new Splash outdoor water play area. Formerly a paddling pool, the water park area is surrounded with seating for sunbathing parents.

Part of the seafront gardens are also made over to the seafront pitch and putt course. Sort of links style golf, without the pressure to be a perfect player!

Water Features

Then you’ll come across a water feature like no other. Find this aquatic masterpiece at the southern end of the promenade. Explore a series of shallow ponds, each interlinked with little streams. They’re all encircled with little winding paths to enable you to look more closely.

There are  bridges to walk under or over. Stepping stones to balance on. Don’t miss the enormous waterfall – you can even walk behind and under the water!

Wildlife in the Gardens

Ducks and swans live on the ponds in the promenade gardens. Each year they breed here and raise their pretty young chicks. They’re always on the lookout for a tasty morsel of food. If you like to feed the ducks please give them seed and/or green vegetables/lettuce. Bread isn’t good for ducks and it also pollutes their water.

History, Hidden in the Grotto

In March 2020, Heather got in touch with us at Visit St Annes to tell us about a family connection to some hidden local history.

Heather’s great grandfather designed and built the gardens, south of Eastbank Road. Henry Gregson was surveyor to the Clifton Estate at one time, then to St Annes Urban District Council.

His message-in-a-bottle time capsule was inserted in a cavity in the stonework on 9 June 1909. It contains newspapers, coins and his story of the building of Rockery Bridge, told in the vernacular.

Heather later posted to us an excerpt from a small book simply called ‘Lytham’, printed in 1946 by Mather Bros Ltd of 31 Lune Street, Preston. Written by Ed Ashton it includes a foreword by Mrs Violet Clifton of Lytham. This little book contains a copy of the writing that Henry Gregson placed in the bottle.

It’s very interesting to read about the life and times of Fylde folk, so we’ve photographed it for you to read below. If you find these images awkward to enlarge enough to read there’s also a pdf of the pages. You can download it here.