FOREST OF BOWLAND Road Trip | The Villages of Little England
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Taking a road trip through the Forest of Bowland AONB in Northern England & stopping by the villages of Little England, namely Whitewell, Slaidburn, & Dunsop Bridge. Welcome to my Forest of Bowland day trip!
🇬🇧 See more of my UK videos here → bit.ly/mwt_UK
After heavy rainfall overnight I woke up early and got on the road with high expectations. The Forest of Bowland is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Northern England and whilst not as popular as places such as the Lake District it’s still a fantastic pick for a day out. With lots of rolling hills, peat moorland and gaping valleys there’s something for everyone regardless of whether you’re going to tackle it in a car or by walking.
After passing Jeffrey Hill and getting a bit wet filming the introduction I realised that the bad weather overnight wasn’t going to let up much during the day. Showers were forecast and the skies fluttered between grey and black. Still, I was determined to make the most of it and to see as many places as I possibly could.
My first challenge was to get parked in the village of Whitewell and find some stepping stones over the River Hodder that I had read about on someone’s blog. After heading off in the wrong direction a few times I finally found a couple of signposts that sent me down a muddy trail towards the river’s edge. It's there I found the stepping stones - what an amazing place, I really wasn’t sure if it was the rain that kept everyone else away or if they were a true hidden gem in the Forest.
After getting soaked by a passing storm (I didn’t fall in although I may as well have done) I headed to my next village - Dunsop Bridge, a place recognised for being the closest village to the geographical centre of the British Isles. It also had a lovely bridge, post office and church.
Next up I visited the small village of Newton-in-bowland in the Ribble Valley District and followed it up with a walk around the very picturesque Slaidburn with its stone houses, narrow streets and local pub the Hark To Bounty.
The villages weren’t the only highlight of my Forest of Bowland road trip, it was incredible to just drive around the tiny roads and admire the wonderful scenery as I went. I ran into lots of postcard worthy bridges, shallow rivers, farm houses, sheep, old abandoned buildings and rolling countryside - just what I needed after my city adventures a few days prior.
As the rain continued to fall I made it to Sawley where I got to see the ruins of the 10th century Sawley Abbey. The weather may have been out of my control and determined to make the day difficult but I enjoyed seeing the Forest of Bowland and many of its tiny villages just the same.
📖 CHAPTERS:
📖 00:00 Introducing the Forest of Bowland
📖 01:25 Whitewell Village
📖 03:22 Dunsop Bridge
📖 05:58 How Beautiful is the Forest of Bowland?
📖 07:24 Newton-in-Bowland Village
📖 09:26 Slaidburn Village
📖 11:10 How Beautiful is the Forest of Bowland? (part II)
📖 12:33 Sawley Abbey
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Terrific, entertaining video !
I fished the Ribble and Hodder for many years.
Beautiful area,lovely pubs.
Many thanks.
Thanks Stuart, loved my visit but would have preferred a sunny day! Made the most of it though! 😃
Nice that 👍
Thanks Kevin, much appreciated.
just amazing. thanks
Glad you liked it!
@@MattWhitingsEurope thxx iam just visiting UK next week and gathering up plans ♥️
That's great. Hope my video helps - have a wonderful time!!
Wow. So nice I love the fields the ducks and I like the step stones on the water amazing place so lovely
Thank you, yes it was a wonderful place and an enjoyable day. The stepping stones were my favourite though, just not in the rain! Thanks for visiting.
You're becoming a traveling weatherman with some of the rainy days you have experienced! We got so excited when you said "give it a go!" Super smooth driving to drone transition!
Thanks, and yes the weather was crazy up there - was really hoping for a couple of sunny days but nope, nothing! It felt like I was constantly dodging the rainstorms! Beautiful area though - I tried to make the most of it!
Hi Matt 🙋🏽♀️…. So enjoying your vids… thanks for taking us along on your adventures … happy to sub, going to catch up on your channel 🥾🥾
Thanks Lesley, welcome aboard! Glad you enjoyed the video, it was a particularly wet day if I remember correctly but I tried to make the most out of it! Looking forward to seeing you around. 👍
All within cycling distance of my home town
And it’s always pissing down. I almost mist that part sometimes
Ah so there's quite a bit of rain out that way - thought as much. It's a real shame it was raining so much that day, It's kinda hard to film in the rain but I did my best. Thanks for watching!
Just a normal day in Lancashire with that weather haha.
Haha thought as much 😂. Thanks for watching!
I feel your pain with the rain - 2021's weather wasn't kind to the UK was it?! This was a part of the UK that I really knew nothing about, but your video has proved to me that it's right up my street. The stepping stones looked fantastic, much better than my local-ish ones at Box Hill. I think I have a new area in the UK that's been added to my ever-growing bucket list! 🤣
Yes whilst I was up in that area I looked at the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales National Park, two places I'd heard plenty about. However I decided to get off the beaten track and explore somewhere a bit different, somewhere I hadn't heard much about - so that's what I ended up doing. It wasn't far from Blackpool so worked out perfectly. There were lots of walking trails but sadly it was so wet I only stayed to do one - lovely area though! As far as British summers go I think it's fair to say it was an average one!😂
Hi Matt, just come across your channel and I really enjoyed your video. You have a new subscriber. Looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Have a great weekend 👍😊🙏
Thanks very much Cath, glad you're enjoying the videos. Thanks for watching! Have a great weekend too!
@@MattWhitingsEurope You'rwe very welcome Matt. 😊🙏
If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes. Welcome to the area, please drive carefully 🙏
Haha you're right about the weather! Thank you for the welcome. I always try to drive responsibly and would of course recommend others to do the same.
Hi
We hike a lot in the Forest of Bowland, we absolutely love it
Yes it's a great place! I wish I had spent a few more days up there and hit some of the hiking trails. Maybe next time!
Awesome video thanks for sharing 👍🏴
Glad you enjoyed it, lovely area of England!!
Brilliant informative video. Love seeing my local-ish area given proper attention in your filming.
Thanks for watching, Olga. Loved my day exploring the Forest of Bowland - just a shame that I got some pretty rough weather!
@@MattWhitingsEurope it's always better to get out than not to, despite the weather.
Definitely.
nice job! beautiful place! it rains a lot here in Vancouver, Canada, so i feel your pain.
Thanks Armindo, much appreciated. I have fond memories of visiting Vancouver way back in 2005, did an unforgettable road trip over to Calgary, Lake Louise etc - wonderful area!
Having lived in both areas then yes the climate is very similar
love the trough of bowland, it's one of my favorite places... great video
Thanks very much, I really enjoyed my trip to the area. Thanks for watching!
@@MattWhitingsEurope you're welcome. These are the areas I shoot videos for my channel. So it's always interesting to see someone else's take on it
Interesting, I'll take a look. 👍
Go-Pro footage is looking good!
Thanks, using the GoPro Hero 8 Black that I bought last year before my road trip around the North Coast 500 in Scotland, love the wide lens and the fact it's waterproof. Decent bit of kit!!
Hello there ✨ Thank you for sharing these beautiful images with us. Is this area always this quiet? Also, would you recommend traveling in the fall?
Hello Neslihan, glad you liked the video! It was a rainy day so I think that kept a lot of people away. Yes I think the fall would be a beautiful time of year to visit!!
@@MattWhitingsEurope thank you so much for your answer 🌞
You're very welcome. Have a great trip!
No. It’s always like that
By the way, if you go over the steps in White Well and go into the forest, there are some hidden caves there. We explored them last summer.
That's amazing! Thanks for the information, I wish I had of known that at the time. How long does it take to walk there?
@@MattWhitingsEurope only 5-10 minutes walk after the steps. You go across through the field, then to the left at the farm and the caves are in the forestry area on the right. They are hidden in the rocky wall/cliff. I have a tiny short home video somewhere on my personal channel. I will look for it if you want and send a link later.
Yes that would be interesting, I'd love to see it. Not far at all then, I was surprised that the stepping stones were so quiet - I was half expecting a few other people to be around. Perhaps the rain kept them away!
@@MattWhitingsEurope there I found it. Sorry it was in the days before I knew to film properly, most of it is in the dark as we didn't have a torch, so you can only see things towards the end.
ua-cam.com/video/nHgNJmJv9qo/v-deo.html
Very impressive, larger than I expected. Always good to learn more about the places I visit!
Hi Matt, we will be visiting next April. Do you have the route? Google maps would be good. Thanks, Neil
Hi Neil, here's a quick route that I've prepared in Google Maps --> www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1-LNiiq3oySKEMfyT4u7P7FWL3Rfo5ISe&usp=sharing
Any questions, let me know. Hope you have a fun trip (with a little less rain!).
@@MattWhitingsEurope Thank you. Matt. Very kind.