The view of the Bowland Fells from the Cartford Inn dining room is magnificent. On a clear day, from left to right, you can scan Clougha Pike (behind that stand of feathery poplars), climbing to Grit Fell and Ward's Stone (at 1840 feet the highest point in Bowland, with a wind-blasted summit as remote as the surface of the moon). To the right and closer to home are Hazelhurst, Holme House, Fairsnape and Parlick. The ancient Trough of Bowland road – the last illusion of freedom for the Pendle witches on their way to trial and execution in Lancaster - winds between the two ranges. Crouching in the lee of Fairsnape is the Bleasdale Bronze Age circle, constructed over 3000 years ago, its origins shrouded in mystery.
Beyond lie miles of wilderness, jutting crags and deep, seductive bog. Fiendsdale, Castle of Cold Comfort and Dead Man's Stake Clough roll off the tongue but can be unsettling on a solitary ramble with only the mist and the weeping curlew for company. Wolfhole Crag's ornately figured rocks were carved by unknown hands - or maybe no hands at all. The Whitendale Hanging Stones mark the exact centre of the British Isles, and Brennand Tarn, windswept and secretive, is said to protect a legendary treasure casted into its depths by the monks of Whalley Abbey as they fled the attentions of the Henry the Eighth.
Tempted? It's only half an hour away from the comfort of the Cartford, but you'll need your boots, map and compass - and maybe a stick from the Cartford collection.
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