Woody's Retreat

Sitting on the edge of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Woody’s Retreat is a handy base for walking and cycling holidays, with excellent routes all around, including the Pendle Sculpture Trail (20 minutes’ drive). The more adventurous can embrace their inner daredevil at Gisburn Forest (15 minutes) on mountain bike trails for all abilities. Prefer to travel on four wheels? The village of Sawley has the ruin of a Cistercian abbey to explore (plus a very popular pub), while Bolton-by-Bowland (both five minutes) has an historic church known for its stone carvings. The market town of Clitheroe (15 minutes) features a Norman keep and local-history museum, as well as Holmes Mill, a beer hall with (reputedly) one of the longest bars in Europe. Heading over the border into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Skipton (25 minutes) is a lively market town with a well-preserved medieval castle to explore, canal-side walks and some of the best fish and chips around. It’s also the gateway to adventures at Malham Cove (40 minutes) and testing walks on the Three Peaks Challenge at Pen-y-ghent (half an hour).