A WIRRAL area has been named in The Sunday Times as one of the best places to live by the sea in the UK.

In its 2023 roundup, The Sunday Times listed West Kirby as one of the best locations with the average price of a property being listed at £525,800.

Describing the area, the publication said: “For an outdoor lifestyle in a beautiful setting there’s nowhere to match this lively village on the tip of the Wirral peninsula.”

The Sunday Times spoke with local resident Paul Smith, who runs Yogasmiths yoga studio with his husband Steve. He told them: “The sunsets are spectacular here. I’ve travelled a lot, but they’re as good here as anywhere in the world. We’ve got so much natural beauty; there are migrating birds in winter and you can walk out across the sands to see the seals at Hilbre Island — but the centre of Liverpool is only half an hour away by train.”

Paul, 45, added that he has lived in West Kirby his whole life and has “seen it change from a quiet retirement village” to somewhere lively and multigenerational, with two sought-after grammar schools and a thriving town centre with a great new bookshop and a café scene that will “leave you spoilt for choice for brunch”.

The Sunday Times added: “From sailing on the Marine Lake (whose circuit makes a magical dog walk) and golf and tennis at Hoylake to cycling on the Wirral Way, there’s something for everyone. There’s a good choice of family-sized houses, from the Victorian terraces in the “flat part of town” to the grand old villas in the big-money enclave of Caldy.”