THE GHOST OF SAMLESBURY
income-bringers that keep the Hall open.”
In terms of events, towards the end of August or early September, “Lancashire Day” is usually held at the Hall. Local crafts and traditions such as dry-stone walling and hedge laying are celebrated. Autumn also sees Halloween walkthroughs where the Hall is thematically decorated and special ghost tours are laid on.
In addition to the Hall itself, there are also the five acres of stunning grounds to explore, which boast a rose garden full of heritage roses, a kitchen garden (where produce is grown for the restaurant), a children’s play area complete with a lovely mini Hall for them to play on, a courtyard and a bee centre – though Sharon is keen to stress that the grounds will never be modernised too much.
“I’m a beekeeper!” she reveals. “About twelve years ago I brought two hives into the grounds of the hall. That’s where it started – now we have a bee keeper and fourteen hives. Our bees are indigenous British bees – a little black bee as opposed to the black and yellow bees that we normally see.
“They don’t produce quite as much honey but they’re a lot nicer than the imported bees. I started with Italian bees and the Italian queen is a very bad-tempered lady! She then makes all her bees bad tempered!”
There are acres of wild meadow planted with bee-friendly grasses to keep the colony happy and the honey is sold in the shop.
“I have a spoonful of it every day, and I don’t catch a cold!” Sharon claims. “I’m touching wood when I say that, but it does make a difference!”
Volunteers are vital to the maintenance of the grounds and Sharon tells me they’re completely dedicated.
“There’s a beautiful herbaceous perennial border and a lovely lady called Audrey spent two days a week with other volunteers working on it for about seven or eight years. Audrey’s passed away now so we’ve dedicated the border to her.”
As for the trees in the grounds, they are all native species.
“We’ve had to remove a few beech trees because they were diseased, but we’ve kept the traditional trees. There are a lot of oak trees, beech, and silver birch which are very pretty. If we do have to lose a tree because it’s old or the wind caught it, we always replace it with more than one.”
For an overnight stay, the lodge house is available for booking, and there is also a hamlet of 28 Shepherd’s Huts, each offering luxury accommodation for up to four people at a time.
“They have showers, they have heating, they have memory foam mattresses and they have solid oak beds! We have a couple who stay with us once a month for three nights and they sit in the courtyard and they read The Times on their iPad every morning and have breakfast and what have you – it’s just delightful to see them.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” Sharon concludes, “the Hall is a ‘she’ and she draws you in and she makes you completely dedicated to her. It’s such a pleasure to know that whilst you’re working there you’re keeping the history alive and whatever you’re doing, it’s not lost. It’s not just a job.
“I’m only a caretaker, of course – I’m only here for as long as I have and hopefully I’ll hand the reins over to another to take good care of her.
“But she kind of controls you a little bit, I think; you’re very dedicated and
If reports over recent years are true, it seems the troubled soul of Dorothy Southworth has never got over being cruelly deprived of her lover, and still searches the area where he was buried.
“We actually have a recording from the police in the 1980s,” Sharon says. “A police car was passing the Hall and they stopped to see a lady at the side of the road.
“We also get bus drivers saying that they have seen the lady in white crossing [in front of them] and heading towards the de Hoghton tower.”
Dorothy is said to show herself in a soldier’s uniform because her lover was a soldier.
“We’re lucky we have a ghost,” Sharon continues. “She’s a nice ghost . . . Occasionally when I’ve been locking up at three in the morning I’ve whistled as I’ve run through the rooms! But Samlesbury does have a warmth to it and there’s nothing really scary or spooky.”
I worry about her. She’s like a husband and she’s like a child in a way. A lot of my staff say the same thing.”
So what does Sharon want visitors to take away from their time here?
“A really good sense of the history. We are a seven-hundred-year-old historic house and we want them to have the feeling that they’ve learned an awful lot and that it was really exciting and interesting.
“But we also have the Samlesbury Trust’s original deed [in mind] which was that visitors from Blackburn – though we do allow other visitors in now, by the way! – enjoy the Hall. Really all I want is for people to come and have a nice day.”
And who knows? You may even catch a glimpse of the white lady, too!
Samlesbury Hall, Preston New Road, Samlesbury, Preston, PR5 0UP. 01254 812010; samlesburyhall.co.uk
“Wherever I am, if I’ve got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy” wrote J.K. Rowling. It’s an uplifting thought that while most of us are spending considerably more time at home or on our own, our books and magazines can take us beyond the front door into our local area, to distant places, even other worlds!
Between the pages of this year’s Explore England, you can travel the length and breadth of the nation from the edge of the North West at Sunderland Point to the near tip of the country along Cornwall’s breathtakingly beautiful Helford River. There’s more than a hundred things to learn, stunning photography on every page and a whole host of different people to meet. And for those of us itching to get out and about again, we have 42 pages of expert visitor guides to every bit of England. Here are some of the highlights:
Towering Landmarks
While Lancashire is known for its Blackpool Tower, Dene Bebbington finds plenty of lesser-known landmarks in the county well worth a visit.
Delightful Embsay
Discover a charming village in the Yorkshire Dales which played an astonishingly important role in the industrial revolution.
Shropshire’s Heavenly Town
“With its head up in the heaven and toes in the Severn”, Bridgnorth has been admired by many including King Charles I and poet John Betjeman. Take a tour and discover why.
On the Right Track
Family-run Mangapps Railway Museum in Essex is a story of dedication on behalf of the Jolly family who happily set it up.
Millennial Bury St Edmunds
This historic Suffolk market town has a big birthday this year – it’s only 1000 years old!
Drawn by the Light
From watercolours to sculpture, Cornwall’s history of art and craft dates back more than two centuries. Katherine Sorrell charts the county’s impressive artistic heritage.
The Ark in the Park
London Zoo has emerged from questionable beginnings to become a global force for environmental good. Go behind-the-scenes and meet some fantastic beasts as well as learning about the society’s history.