Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
There were two hilly areas we wanted to be near, one for definite the Trough of Bowland, and the other to the south of it - Pendle Hill. Today we would get acquainted with the latter. Our first stop would be lunch. The countryside we drove through was beautiful and quiet just like Bowland. We only saw the odd car, a few walkers and a farmer or two. When we reached our lunch destination The Assheton Arms, it proved to be an idyllic spot with views to die for. My mobile phone pics fail to do it justice. In many ways Bowland and Pendle are like an unspoilt Lake District with moors, uplands, woods, rivers, stone villages, welcoming pubs, friendly folk and terrific food as we were to find out. The Assheton Arms gets good reviews and is one of esteemed food critic Grace Dent's favourites. It has everything you could wish for in a pub - amazing location, great building, stone flag floors, real ale, fires, very friendly staff, a lack of pretension and top-class food priced very reasonably indeed. And the village it is in- Downham - is special. Downham beck runs through the village green and there are no street signs, telegraph poles, advertisements or road signs. This is all due to the Assheton family. You can criticise patriarchal land ownership all you like but it does have its benefits... We were spoiled for choice on the menu, but had a terrific meal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We then set off for our drive over Pendle moorland, not as forbidding as some moors, although the weather was a bit dramatic at times! We then drove through Nelson which was an eye-opener to say the least. I expected dereliction in this old spinning town, but it was full of Indie shops, restaurants, delis, stone houses, good buildings, and we decided that this too could be the sort of place we could live and so it was added to our list. Next stop was Towneley Museum in Burnley which I had always wanted to visit. As Pevsner says 'the outstanding monument in Burnley, a building of exceptional interest with some of the finest eighteenth century plasterwork in North Lancashire. It stands in a large park.' Indeed. The grounds were beautiful, and although we didn't have time to visit the inside, we were not sorry to have called and noted it for a future visit. There are houses which come available overlooking the grounds, but we could see at a glance that Burnley was a bit of a dump, so not somewhere for us to put roots. It was on then to Southport where we knew there were lots of lovely Victorian houses in our price range. But what would Southport itself be like? The well-known arcaded Lord Street is of course still splendid if getting a little frayed around the edges....... ....but when towards tea time we visited the posher area of Birkdale to see what it was like, we were pleasantly surprised. Nice houses, nice bars and pubs.... The next day was a bit grey and blustery, but having shopped on Lord Street (buying a bargain three suitcases in the independent department store for less than £100)....... we decided we couldn't not go down the pier. It is a mile long, but unfortunately the little train wasn't running which F. hoped to catch back after a nice cup of coffee in the cafe at the pier end. That was shut too. Still, it was an enjoyable walk...... and on the way back we were astonished to see what we thought was the very rare sight of a parhelion (such as occurred to the Yorkists at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross). The phone camera doesn't pick this up, but we could see what looked like three suns in close proximity. I have since researched this and we didn't see a parhelion - which is where there appear to be three suns rising at different points on the horizon. Nevertheless it was quite a thing to see. Also shut was the Atkinson museum and art gallery which I had wanted to visit.... But the bar/cafe right outside was great... with good views of the Christmas tree...... ....and the sunset..... What I felt like was a pint and a gingerbread man......so that is what I had. Southport, although it has its pluses (lots of splendid buildings including the houses), is still a typical British seaside town with the centre a bit hollowed-out, and tatty round the edges. And the countryside is very flat round about which I don't like. We concluded that, living here, you would believe you were at the end of the line rather as the characters in Alan Bennett's 'Sunset Across The Bay'. Not for us. All in all at the end of our trip we felt excited about the possibility of moving to Clitheroe, Whalley, nearby Mellor, or even Nelson.....plus we still haven't ruled out Sandbach in Cheshire. Those places have everything we want. Walks from the doorstep, excellent pubs, good public transport, nice houses, brilliant views, lots of historical interest, nearness to Manchester and accessibility to London and Edinburgh where our children live. Can't wait....
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August 2023
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