The Area
Beyond the
barn gates.
Ancient villages. Cistercian ruins. A hill the whole valley answers to.
Ancient villages. Cistercian ruins. A hill the whole valley answers to.
Hill Brook Barn sits in a remote corner of Lancashire that most people have never heard of — and that is entirely the point. The Forest of Bowland is one of England's least-visited Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The lanes are narrow, the skies are wide, and the nearest traffic jam is somewhere near Preston.
The barn sits on the edge of one of the prettiest villages in Lancashire. Bolton by Bowland has a village green with original market cross and stocks, a 15th-century church, and almost no traffic — just stone cottages and the sound of fields.
There is a pub, a tearoom, and nothing else that wants your money. It has changed very little in two hundred years. That is not an accident.
Two minutes from the barn gate, the ruins of a 12th-century Cistercian monastery stand quietly in a field by the River Ribble. Most visitors to the valley drive straight past.
You'll have it almost entirely to yourself. On an autumn morning, with mist still in the valley, there is nowhere quite like it in the north of England.
You can see it from the barn on a clear day. You can walk to the summit from the car park below — a steady climb that rewards you with one of the most sweeping views in the north of England.
On a good day: the Bowland fells, the Yorkshire Dales, Morecambe Bay, and — rarely, on the clearest winter mornings — the Lake District and the sea. The summit is at 557 metres. The path up takes about an hour.
The Forest of Bowland — the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that Hill Brook Barn sits inside — covers moorland, river valleys, and open hills across 300 square miles. It is one of England's least-visited protected landscapes.
There are walking routes from the door. There are fly-fishing beats on the Ribble. There are market towns — Clitheroe, Skipton, Settle — within easy reach when you want them. Mostly, though, there is just space.
Bolton by Bowland
Village green
0.5 miles
Sawley Abbey
Cistercian ruins
2 min drive
Pendle Hill
Summit walk
12 min drive
Clitheroe
Market town
20 min drive
Skipton
Gateway to the Dales
35 min drive
M6 Junction 31
Preston motorway
35 min drive
One of Lancashire's most unspoiled corners — and a barn built to make the most of it.