Where to visit: Forest of Bowland
Where to visit: Forest of Bowland.
The Forest of Bowland is a stone’s throw from our park and covers a vast area (312 square miles to be exact!) This area of outstanding natural beauty is important for a variety of things including the heather moorland, blanket bog and rare birds.
The Forest of Bowland includes local towns such as Slaidburn and Dunsop Bridge, which is the geographical centre of Great Britain. If you want to find out where else is in the Forest of Bowland, you can view the full map here.
Cyclists, walkers, star gazers and nature lovers are all well catered for in the Forest of Bowland as well as those looking for a scenic drive out. There is also an abundance of family friendly activities to including sculpture and nature trails, farm parks and fantastic picnic spots.
How can you find out more about this wonderful area? Well, we know you’re all looking for different things to help you fill your weekend. If you visit forestofbowland.com you can find an array of walking routs, cycling route, star gazing events, 2017 events calendar as well as details on the electric bike network.
Gisburn forest hub is a great place for all ages offering walking, cycling, Gruffalo spotting, wild fishing and picnicking making it the prefect location to take the family!
We are blessed with some wonderful local eateries on our doorstep thanks to all that the Forest of Bowland has to offer. There are an array of Tea rooms such as Bridge House Tea rooms in Wray and Garden centres such as The Garden Kitchen at Holden Clough Nursey. There are also some excellent walks close to some of these eating establishments so you can earn your lunch and walk first or wear it off and walk after a bite to eat. The clever people at the Forest of Bowland have event produced a Tea Shops leaflet. If you’re a real foodie and enjoy your famers markets then we have regular markets in the nearby towns of Settle and Caton as well as a few further afield, you can find out where they are here.
If you’re a fan of shopping then head to Clitheroe, a town that is well known for its overabundance of specialists’ shops including wine, sausage and coffee shops to name but a few. The Emporium is an old Methodist chapel spread across 3 floors and offering you the opportunity to eat, drink and shop all in one place! Perhaps the perfect rainy day location?
There is a wide variety of leaflets available online to help you further discover this area, including the ‘real ale in Bowland’ guide, fishing in Bowland and birding in Bowland. Always ring ahead to check the information is up to date and you can view all the leaflets available here.
What’s more, the Bowland Explorer has now been launched for the summer season. The Explorer’s Bowland route will take it on two return journeys between Bentham and Clitheroe and one return journey to Gisburn Forest Hub, which makes it great for everything from Sunday lunch in a pub or café, to al fresco picnics and forest rambles. Full timetable and fare details can be found here – please note that the timetable has two pages! (text taken from forest of Bowland website)
We hope you thoroughly enjoy exploring the Forest of Bowland. Let us know what you liked best so we can add this to our feature.
