You can’t beat Bowland

Some four miles north of Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire’s Forest of Bowland AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), an easy walk mostly alongside the River Dunsop, are Whitendale Hanging Stones, regarded as the geographical centre of Great Britain and its islands.

Bowland is a forest in the old sense of ‘royal hunting ground’, and is mainly heather moorland and blanket bog, with patches of mixed oak and ash woodland. Peaceful rivers such as the Hodder and the Wyre flow through the valleys and drystone walls pattern the hillsides. It is unspoilt, richly varied and beautiful. There’s a wide network of footpaths and cycle routes, and you can walk for miles on a weekday in summer and meet very few people. With luck you may see a hen harrier, and there are merlins, peregrines, shorteared owls and ring ouzels here, too. The meadows are rich in wild flowers, including uncommon ones such as bird’s-eye primrose, while the rare bog rosemary is abundant in places.

The AONB is in two parts, with a section based on Pendle Hill separated from the main part by the Ribble valley. Both areas have beautiful old villages made from the local sandstone or limestone, with many interesting churches – the fine 15th-century church in Slaidburn, for instance, has a triple-decker pulpit – and attractive inns. And it’s all so easily accessible – a short drive east of the A6, west of the A65, or north of the A59 and you’re in a different world, where the hurly-burly of urban life feels a very long way off. How could you resist?