Shireburne Park

For walks and tales of witches, Pendle Hill is half an hour's drive away and paths up to the top start from Barley. To learn about those infamous 17th-century witch trials, head to the Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford. Bremettenacum, or Ribchester (20 minutes) as it’s known now, is the top spot for Roman history around here: the baths and the granaries are landmarks in this former garrison town and the museum is full of intriguing finds. Fancy feeding lambs, stroking chicks or supervising a meerkat’s mealtime? Bowland Wild Boar Adventure Park also 20 minutes away has many fluffy creature encounters, along with tractor rides... and of course boars. For wilder nature wanderings, beetle over to Brockholes Nature Reserve (half an hour), a patchwork of habitats on a former quarry site, where ospreys, otters and bitterns can be spotted amongst the reedbeds. It’s the same distance to Gisburn Forest Hub, centre of a network of walking and biking trails through the Trough of Bowland. If you’re more into mountains, the Yorkshire Dales' famed Three Peaks are easily reached and scaled from Ingleton, 50 minutes away. Alternatively, go low with wanders of the White Scar Caves just outside Ingleton, a subterranean labyrinth of caverns and tunnels, geological oddities and waterfalls. If you want the views without the effort, you can see the very best of the Ribble valley from a seat on the Settle-Carlisle Railway; Settle is 40 minutes away.