On one of world’s most famous trains
us lifts over in owner Andrew Brown’s Rolls-Royce. My people carrier will never feel the same again.
On our doorstep lay Lancashire’s pretty towns and glorious countryside. In Rawtenstall we visited The Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery, a former mill owner’s home that was turned into a museum after being gifted to residents.
A £ 2.2million refurbishment two years ago has turned it into a fresh and modern space for art from all over the world cleverly mixed in with its traditional museum pieces, including ceramics, costumes and a large taxidermy collection.
The designers have managed to keep its original charm and it feels like you’re wandering round someone’s home. It’s a fabulous moulding together of old and new alike. If you visit, don’t miss the bar and kitchen, one of the new additions. We swung by for a cream tea, with an enormous warm freshly baked fruit scone and delicious coffee (thewhitaker.org).
This area of Lancashire is famed for the Pendle witch trials, which saw 10 men and women hanged in 1612 for witchcraft. You can take a driving tour through some of the villages that were once home to some of the accused, starting at Barrowford’s Pendle Heritage Centre which charts Britain’s most famous witch trial.
We ended our tour in Downham, a tiny village that’s home to just a couple of hundred people… and the incredible Assheton Arms pub. Built in 1765 and Grade II-listed, the newly reopened venue is charming, with picturepostcard views over the Pendle countryside. It’s the kind of place you long to hole up in for a Sunday lunch. But, as we felt like we’d eaten our way around half of Lancashire already, Mum and I went for a quick pit stop – with me tucking into a delicious homemade chorizo Scotch egg and Mum going for a handsome ham and piccali l li doorstep (asshetonarms.co.uk).
It came as no surprise that Downham was used as the film set for BBC1’s Born And Bred.
There are no overhead power l ines, satel l i te dishes or aerials allowed and it real ly does feel like you’re stepping back in time. The perfect end to our vintage break.