Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
We're always devising new routes and today we decided to do a walk around the Assheton Arms at Downham, not quite back to what it was after closure, but getting there. I always find that the most difficult navigation with any walk at all is setting off ie finding the starting point, and so it proved here. In fact we couldn't find our starting point in the village and had to do the walk the opposite way round. Never mind it didn't take anything away from what was a superb walk on a superb day. We parked near the splendid church with great views of Pendle. Along the minor road at the start we saw yet another lime kiln. There were many in Cornwall too. Lime must have been a farmer's mot precious resource. The views soon opened up and whilst a mobile camera doesn't quite show the length and breadth of view at different times we saw long views towards the Trough of Bowland, Yorkshire and Pendle. Here the Trough. The only negatve with this walk was 3 decrepit stiles, one after the other. This might look ok but as soon as you put a foot on it it rears up to bite you. This squeeze stile is appropriately named. We crossed a footbridge over Ings Beck, which prior to 1974 was the boundary between Lancashire (south side) and the West Riding of Yorkshire (north side).In fact, the beck formed a much older frontier – the boundary between two ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. At its greatest extent this was the Kingdom of Mercia’s northern frontier whilst on the north side of Ings Beck was the Kingdom of Northumbria stretching up to York and even Edinburgh. So there you are. Our destination was Downham Mill. Downham Mill was a water driven corn mill situated on, and powered by Ings Beck, and although seeming to be in the middle of nowhere is in fact just 100 yards off Green Lane. A mill in Downham was first recorded in 1311 but the pictured mill was built in 1818. It operated into the 20th century and by 1930 had reverted to a farmhouse tenanted by farmer Walter Rigby. Today it is a residential building and some of the original features remain. Very picaresque and reminded us of France. Climbing uphill we passed some strage limestone knolls, known locally as “Fairy Rocks”. and the top of the ridge was the site of a Roman road..... Pendle never very far away.... Worth the walk! The Assheton Arms.
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Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan country house on the banks of the River Calder. It was redesigned in the 1850s by Sir Charles Barry, designer of the Houses of Parliament and Pugin his collaborator. The modest Hall houses the North West’s largest collection of portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery as well as The Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, a wonderful collection of intricate lace, embroidery and needlework amassed by Miss Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth. It is also the final stop on ‘The Brontë Way’, a long distance route with strong associations with the writings of Charlotte Brontë and the family. On the way back we called at the Aspinall Arms in Mitton and had a drink on the terrace overlooking the river. The inside of the pub is superb too.......
Arriving early at Towneley Hall we explored the grounds. What a lovely setting for a city's art gallery and museum. Can there be one like it? As it happened, there was a part of the hall we could not visit owing to a 100th birthday party taking place for the present Sir Simon Towneley. The great and the good of Burnley were all here.The magnificent hall, which dates from the 14th Century, the family home of the Towneley’s for nearly five centuries, contains fine period rooms decorated with oil paintings and sculptures. The museum within houses an eclectic collection including an Egyptian mummy, the Whalley Abbey vestments, Lancashire-made oak furniture, Pilkington Pottery and the Towneley Bear. The art gallery also boasts an interesting collection of oil paintings including works by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, John William Waterhouse and Johan Zoffany. Certainly well worth the hour's drive from Clitheroe.
Both our 'Go-to' walks are a pleasure any time, but particularly lush at the moment. The stroll along the Ribble at the end of our Brungerley Park walk is very sylvan and it is quite astonishing how the vegetation has grown....we now have to fight our way through at times. Our other walk to Waddington is just as rewarding, but with the added pleasure of 3 terrific pubs to choose from half way round - here the Lower Buck. Did I mention Enjoying Summer?
A boiling hot day, and we had booked a tour of Hoghton Tower. Less than half an hour from Clitheroe we drove through magnificent and totally unspoilt country to get there. Hoghton Tower was built in 1565 by Thomas Hoghton, but he was far from the first builder on site; previous structures here date all the way back to 1109. The hilltop location, which made Hoghton Tower strategically crucial for centuries, now guarantees brilliant views to the Lakes, the Irish Sea and Wales (including Blackpool Tower). We were the only people on the tour, and so had a personally conducted tour by the head guide Steve, who was so enthusiastic and appreciative of our interest, that we spent a good two hours looking round. A real privilege. Hoghton was damaged during the Civil War and subsequently became derelict, but was rebuilt and extended between 1862 and 1901. Inside photos not allowed, so I just include one from their site. Hoghton Tower is the ancestral home of the de Hoghtons, who still own this Grade I listed building, and live in the right wing as seen in the aerial photo. In fact as we were leaving at closing time, Sir Bernard De Hoghton interrupted his mobile call to the City and stood outside the gate with us admiring the view and chatting. You can't get more personal than that! We didn't have time to see the gardens but will definitely return. On reflection, I later wrote with my suggestions as to how the Tower might be better marketed and sold. It is a real jewel of Lancashire but doesn't come high on various searches. Frustrating.
The rather beautiful Waddington, our next door village... Sunday lunch at the Inn at Whitewell...always a treat. Pendle. Two feet short of being a mountain, always visible from miles around. We went on it for the first time, and a very interesting walk it was too with lots of varied scenery, some quite wild.... On our way back from York.....Flamingoland!
A weekend in Clitheroe... a walk through the sculpture park and along the River Ribble Aiisha and Granddad's home-made pizzas Lovely Sunday lunch at the Inn at Whitewell.... A day out in Blackpool Who says the sun never shines in Blackpool? The promenade was full of interest (and jokes) Whilst Katherine and Aiisha were killing themselves at the Pleasure Beach we visited all three piers, all different, all highly enjoyable.. We noted the pink Princess coaches for another time... Along the Golden Mile....an entrance to a Private Gentlemen's Club (Eden 2) next to a Fun Bar called Shenanigans, well that's appropriate! A couple of nights in York was next on the agenda....the apartment we booked was by the river, spacious and had everything we wanted.... Walking in to the city centre Museum Gardens was more lovely than we remembered..... Always great to see the Roman multangular tower It was good to see that, despite all the doom and gloom, the fabric of the city had been looked after and indeed much improved, and there were far more bars and restaurants than when we were there.... The queue for The Viking Centre wasn't an ordeal. But had we come all this way to look at a frying pan? It could have come out of any of the restaurants, but it was 2000 years old....amazing. Plenty of fascinating objects to see..... and a lot of Viking bling..... The Snickleways of York.....what a terrific and innovative book that was. always a treat to walk on the walls too... with good views of the roofscape and gardens... and the various gateways...here Walmgate, the most complete gate and we were soldiers in the charge of this officer... training finished.... Off for a cruise...... and really interesting to see the river development... well, maybe not for some of us who asked 'why do people go on cruises?' Of all museums, the Yorkshire Museum is always guaranteed a hit with children and adults..... The old carousel outside the museum was striking.. Off to Betty's..... The wait.... A birthday lunch for F. at the Star Inn on the river was very nice.... Our last outing in York was to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience....better than one might think....
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August 2023
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