He’ll be visiting Jodrell Bank in Cheshire, then moving to Manchester’s Gaskell House and Archives + at Manchester Central Library and finally ending his trip in Blackpool to see the difference made across the North West through National Lottery funding.

On his North West visit, Sir Peter will:

• Take a tour of Jodrell Bank - the only remaining site in the world that shows the history of the development of radio astronomy – which recently received the green light from HLF to restore and conserve its history
• Explore the Archives + project at Manchester Central Library which was transformed thanks to money raised by National Lottery players
• Walk around the restored and newly opened Gaskell House – home to Victorian author, Elizabeth Gaskell – where he’ll meet young people involved with the ‘Tales of Manchester Life’ Young Roots project also happening at the house
• Visit Marton Mere Nature Reserve, which used an HLF grant of £330,000 to create a new visitor centre and preserve important habitats and species
• See the work done as part of the HLF-funded Blackpool Illuminations project, meet the volunteers behind the project and see artefacts from Blackpool Council’s collections
• Lastly, take a tour of the Blackpool Winter Gardens complex, to view the HLF-funded proposed museum site

It’s an exciting time for HLF. As well as welcoming Sir Peter to the team, we’re also celebrating our 21st birthday this year and of course continuing to fund a wide range of heritage projects across the UK. To date, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, we’ve invested over £709m in over 3,900 projects across the North West.

Follow his travels on Twitter using #LuffHeritage and let us know about what you love about your local heritage.