Victorian Port Sunlight & Tea

Discover the architectural and artistic treasures in Port Sunlight, a beautiful 19th-century village that Soap King and philanthropist William Lever built for his factory workers.

Cross the River Mersey and follow it upstream to Port Sunlight, a village on the Wirral Peninsula, purpose-built in the late 1800s for the Lever Brothers soap factory workers. The village is named after Sunlight Soap, the company’s flagship product at the time, and is one of the finest examples of early urban planning.

As you walk through Port Sunlight, you will notice numerous architectural styles, the result of 30 different architects being employed over the course of 80 years to design the hundreds of buildings. Stop to visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which houses some of the finest decorative art in the United Kingdom. There are detailed tapestries, Wedgwood Jasperware, Chinese porcelains and priceless paintings from British artists such as Gainsborough and Turner.

Following your gallery tour, you will have the opportunity to relax over a pot of tea, fresh-baked scones, clotted cream and jam before its time to make your way back to Liverpool.