Picturesque village is
AREMOTE, picturesque village straddling the border of West Lancashire and Wigan is a favoured haunt of rare wildlife - and very much ‘one on its own’.
The quiet village of Up Holland is to be found somewhat off the beaten track, perched between the West Lancs town of Skelmersdale and the nearby suburb of Orrell, Wigan.
With gorgeous, rolling fields and farmland at its back and accents shaped by Wigan, Merseyside and West Lancashire, the village of Up Holland, as I can testify, is something of a tale of two counties when it comes to tradition and culture.
As a teenager growing up in Up Holland, you had a choice: church, a library, the close knit community, and the bright lights of Wigan Pier rivalling the chirpy hustle and bustle of nearby Skelmersdale.
So we thought we’d venture just that a little bit further down the road to Skelmersdale’s older and somewhat breezier neighbours to speak to people there and find out how they’re faring, post pandemic.
On Ormskirk Road, a friendly, smiling face greets me as I enter Foster’s Hair Company.
Owner Terrie-Ann Scott, 43, tells me this year marks the 80th that the business has been doing ladies’ hair in Up Holland. It was founded by resident Nellie Foster in 1942, who lived on Tower Hill in the village and served in the Wrens during the Second World War.
The business passed through family and is now in the hands of the third generation, and still going strong. Terrie says: “Nellie was my husband’s grandma, and she founded the salon, working from home and then setting up in premises opposite the church, in what is now Velvet’s ice cream shop on Church Street.
“It was my husband’s grandma Nellie Foster who founded the business and went through the war .... Now I have taken over, so I’m the third generation. We’ve been through a lot!
“We’ve been through Covid, the miners’ strike and the war. So we would like to thank all our customers - it’s so nice to have that relationship with them after everything that’s happened, and Up Holland is such a nice place.
“It’s very community based. It’s only a little village but everyone does pull together; you’ve got Denise at the Victoria pub at the top who took meals to all the elderly people during the lockdowns, and really looked after them, and everyone really pulled together.”
Perched on a hill, Up Holland is, as she says, somewhat ‘on its own’, geographically and linguistically, with affinities drawn from the huge traditions and accents of Wigan and Merseyside. She adds: “Up Holland is one on its own. There’s a mixture of people; it’s a different accent. There’s the ‘Up Holland twang,’ I think, and you can hear the difference between the accents here and elsewhere.
“It’s a nice place - very community spirited. It was really hard in the lockdown, but we pulled together and we made it.”
The owner of the decades-old business that survived the pandemic, the Second World War and, as she points out, the miners’ strikes, is pragmatic and stoic, adding: “We’ve been through worse. We’ve got to keep plodding on. People we’re so happy to come back after the lockdowns, and the elderly come for a social visit and a catch up as well as to get their hair done.”
Just a few doors up, a decorative addition to the high street that certainly wasn’t a feature of Up Holland back in the day is a glamorous looking beauty and tanning salon. Lauren Simpson 33 works in the Beauty Club and Sunbed Lounge on Ormskirk Road. She says the nicest thing about Up Holland is seeing the ‘same faces every day.’
She says: “It’s a nice little place to work; you see the same faces every day, and it is a lovely atmosphere in Up Holland. Everybody has a look in and even if they don’t pop in, they give you a wave as they go past.
“It’s the same people that walk past every day and give a bit of a nod and a smile.”
From a distance, you’d think time had stood still in the village centre.
The tempting chippy is still there, now called The Good Catch, as are the chemists, the Victoria pub and the newsagents, or ‘sweet shop’ as we used to call it.
But one major, welcome change is the arrival of Lily’s Coffee & Ice Cream Bar, complete with pavement cafe, its own vegan and gluten free range and a gorgeous aroma of coffee wafting out.
Owner Yasmin Sobeih, 32, who grew up in nearby Standish and who is also half Egyptian, opened the artisan, organic and eco friendly coffee and ice cream bar back in 2020 when she spotted a gap on the high street after returning from living in London and abroad.
She said: “I noticed there were limited options in the village for street and world cuisine as well as gluten free and vegan foods. So we specialise in waffles and cakes and ice creams, so they can have a dairy free ice cream.
“At first, we thought it was awful that Covid had hit, but we have the Beacon at the back, so it was quite a nice little meeting point where people could meet and get that take away coffee because everyone was walking and running.
“You get people meeting up here from Skem, Appeley Bridge way.
“I’ve brought a lot of that street food and cuisine and I have a permanent menu - coffee, Frappuccino and waffles - but our sweet and savoury change every few days and weekly to get more variety of customers trying things like Halal, and Caribbean, so there’s definitely more of a broader customer now.
“But they called us ‘the sanctuary’ - that was the unofficial name they gave us in Up Holland during the lockdowns around here, as they said we were a breath of fresh air, and they never had anywhere to go or have a coffee. I was born in Standish but I’m also half Egyptian.
“My background is organic fashion, and how you can grow crops organically for food and for fabric use, so everything is sustainable; we don’t have plastics, and we use local suppliers - local coffee. We get the milk and eggs from Mawdesley so we are just doing our part for everything.”
With vital services like the library and the post office closing in recent years, locals welcomed new initiatives like Up Holland Artz Centre, Community Library and Cafe which opened up in the former library in the summer of 2019, offering classes in musical theatre, dance and music lessons and hosting an adult choir, social groups and a cafe.
Meanwhile, a post office facility sprang up last summer in the grounds of the historic St Thomas the Martyr Church, alongside a community hub and cafe.
The gorgeous church grounds - a former Benedictine Priory - are the final resting place of one of the 18th century’s most notorious highwaymen, George Lyons, who terrorised the area, Dick Turpin-style for the best part of three decades until he was caught and dramatically hung in Lancaster, ‘dressed in black with topped boots,’ according to reports of the day.
An allegedly haunted house next to the nearby White Lion pub achieved notoriety in August 1904, with ‘eerie’ claims of a poltergeist throwing stones attributed by locals to the