Cheshire's only coastal village hailed "the best place on Earth" with ice cream shop and lovely walks

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

This is Cheshire's only coastal village that residents hail "the best place on Earth". Visitors flock to Parkgate on the Wirral peninsula for award-winning ice creams and tranquil walks.

It boasts a wall of pretty black and white Victorian houses on what was once the sea front, although the water itself now lies more than two miles out across the saltmarshes. Parkgate was a thriving port until the late 1700s – and Cheshire ’s gateway to Ireland.

But as waters began to recede it gave Parkgate a new life as a beach resort. However, over the years further silting took the River Dee away from the village entirely.

Read more : The idyllic Cheshire village that's like paradise for families

Now the waters have been replaced by a sea of swaying bulrushes and grasses that catch waves of air blowing in off the sea, reports Cheshire Live.

The rapid expansion of the marshes over the last century has sparked a renaissance for wildlife in the area. Rare birds pop up from behind tall grass and skim the mirror-like waters to the amusement of ice-cream wielding day trippers.

In spite of the recent fire down in Little Neston which spread towards Parkgate, the marshes still appear to be teeming with life. And the village remains a popular haunt for day-trippers and bird-watchers.

Joe Lyon, 28, is used to serving queues of customers who flock to his award-winning Parkgate Homemade Ice Cream Shop on sunny days. The shop is located in one of the many distinctive black and white properties in the village.

He has lived in the village all his life and has no hesitation in singing its praises. “It’s the best place on Earth,” he says, listing “the sense of community, the people, the scenery.”

“There’s nowhere like Parkgate,” he continues. “I