bowlandbrewery

Edisford Farm Campsite, Clitheroe, Lancashire

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After too many weeks without a Jolly adventure, we finally got away again this weekend with a group of friends on a return trip to Clitheroe.

We stayed at Edisford Bridge Caravan and Camping, a private campsite conveniently located right next door to the Edisford Bridge Pub and just a stone’s throw from the River Ribble.

On site
On site
New facilities block

The site appeared more or less full and our camping party was made up of 6 adults (Mo, Lee, Anne, Laurie and us) and 1 child (Emma), with 2 tents and Jolly.  The weather was wet and dull, but the company was quite the opposite!

We had all come well prepared with plenty of food, nibbles and drink (definitely lots of drink) and basically from the word go on Friday afternoon things quickly turned lively and a really good time was had by all!  Chef Lee cooked delicious steak on Friday night, this was accompanied by a lovely potato salad and bread courtesy of Mo.  Lee used a Cadac Carri Chef portable gas bbq with hot plate to cook all the food, including the breakfasts over the two days.

On Saturday afternoon we all walked off our over-indulgences from the previous day, strolling up into Clitheroe town centre then dropping in at the Holmes Mill beer hall and the new local-produce food hall that has opened there.  Several ales were sampled as ‘thirds’, including Unicorn, Crafty Fox, Hen Harrier, Pheasant Plucker, Blueberry, Cherry Choc (this would be more aptly named ‘Knock Yer Socks Off’), Pennine Best, Mango Decker Dence, and Heart & Soul.

Bowland Brewery ales

The Beer Hall Bible
Studying the menu
Sampling the ales
Bowland Brewery ales
Bowland Food Hall
Bowland Food Hall
Bowland Food Hall

We later walked back to camp and freshened up before finishing the day off with a meal at the Edisford Bridge Pub.

Walk back to site
The River Ribble from Edisford Bridge

It’s usually necessary to pre-book a table in the restaurant as it does get busy especially at weekends.  Each of us made the mistake of having a starter before our main courses and we were all beaten by the meal as the portions are so generous we simply couldn’t eat it all.  Definitely a pub we’ll return to again and again though when over that way and we’d recommend it to anyone without hesitation.

Edisford Bridge pub – 2 mins from site
Walk to pub

Sunday seemed to come around in no time and as a group we gathered for breakfast and the rain finally stopped long enough for the tents to be taken down and packed up before we said our goodbyes after a great weekend.

Jolly providing shelter at breakfast
Jolly providing shelter at breakfast time
Muddy boots
Looks like Jolly has a new fan!
Looks like Jolly has a new fan!

Our next Jolly jaunt is just a couple of weeks away when we’ll be heading back up to the Lake District.

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Clitheroe Food Festival, Ribble Valley, Lancashire

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Sooo, a food festival.   What’s not to like?

We were back in Clitheroe a couple of weekends ago to experience the Clitheroe Food Festival  which we’d been meaning to visit several times but always seemed to have other trips planned.  We made sure that we made it there this year.

We stayed at Clitheroe Camping & Caravanning Club Site .  It’s situated in an idyllic location beside the River Ribble at Edisford Bridge just a mile or so outside the town centre.  We often stay at this site and this time noticed a big improvement in that the old plastic mesh matting pitches have now been replaced with gravel hard standings.  This is a big improvement as this site is so close to the River Ribble it’s prone to water logging and flooding.

Pitched up
Cuppa & angel slice
Fizz n strawberries

Our weekend had begun Friday lunchtime when our nephew, George, who had been staying with us for a couple of days helped us to collect Jolly from storage and joined us on board as we took him back home on the way.

George at Jolly’s storage
En route to Clitheroe

For Friday night, we’d pre-booked ourselves a table at The Red Pump Inn, Bashall Eaves So, after a chilled afternoon on Jolly (it was raining quite heavily outside) we rang for a taxi up to the Red Pump, which is about 2.5 miles outside Clitheroe.  It’s in a peaceful location with good views of the surrounding countryside.

We’d heard before going that the steaks here were top notch, and although there was plenty on the menu that could easily have turned our eyes, noses and taste buds, we both decided to go for a steak.  We ordered a fillet steak with garstang blue cheese sauce and a 90 day dry aged rib-eye steak with chimichurri sauce.  Both were cooked to medium rare perfection, served with tasty chunky hand cooked chips and a side salad. The food portions were just right too, comfortably filling.

In fact, the whole evening was pretty perfect – great staff, service and atmosphere.  We can recommend this one without hesitation.  It made an interesting change for us too as we usually go into Waddington which also has great pubs/restaurants – The Higher Buck, Waddington Arms, and The Lower Buck.

The next day the sun came out of hiding in time for the Food Festival and the town centre was buzzing with a large turnout of people who were treated to a festival offering an impressive display of different food/drink/produce stalls.  There was plenty of live street music, entertainment and food demos too.  This Festival is rated as one of the most successful of its kind in the North West of England and in the top 10 throughout the country, and this was its 7th year.

We enjoyed our afternoon wandering through the town centre then ventured down to another place that put on a great day – the Bowland Brewery at Holmes Mill just down from the town centre.  There were food stalls, their new food hall was open, live music, ice cream shop and of course some great ales to be enjoyed.  For us, this place is an absolute must to drop into whenever we’re over Clitheroe way.

The town’s festival was rounded off perfectly at approx. 4pm when the Red Arrows treated everyone to a fly-over display on their way across to the Blackpool Air Show.  It was a spectacular finish to the event.

clitheroefoodfestival

Clitheroe Main Street

redarrowsclitheroe

Red Arrows Flyover (photo by Zoie Carter-Ingham)

Afterwards, we cycled back down from town to the Edisford Bridge pub which is just over the bridge from the C&CC site.  We grabbed a pint and some tea (because we hadn’t actually eaten at the food festival!?) before heading back to our pitch to await the arrival of a couple of good friends and fellow campers, Mo & Lee, who were coming to see Jolly and have a few drinks with us.

Enjoying the last of the day’s sunshine
Bedtime Zzz …

We sat out for a couple of hours chatting, laughing and drinking before the evening chill finally beat us and we retreated inside Jolly for the remainder of the evening.  Our next outing will actually be back in Clitheroe but a group social gathering with Mo, Lee and another couple..  We’re really looking forward to that one.

Great weekend! 😊  Til next time ..

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri

Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria

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Jolly recently took us to Woodclose Park approx. half a mile outside the pretty, historic market town of Kirkby Lonsdale, on the border between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

Woodclose Park is beautifully laid out and immaculately maintained with excellent facilities.  We stayed in the circular touring section on pitch number 2.  The pitches were well spaced and fully serviced with water, electric, grey waste drain & tv hook-up points.

Overcast
Lane leading to site
Woodclose Park Holiday Home
Approaching reception
Pitch No.2
Chin, chin!
Spookily accurate forecast

It was a busy weekend there but the atmosphere remained chilled and very peaceful.  All of the staff were friendly, especially Rick who we spoke to a couple of times and who gave us some recommendations and info about the area.

Kirkby Lonsdale is such a lovely town with an array of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.  There’s a Market day on Thursdays and a Farmers Market on the first Thursday of the month.  They also have a Victorian Street Fair during the first week in September.

In 2013, the town was used as one of the filming locations for the BBC drama ‘Jamaica Inn‘ We didn’t watch the drama but have googled it since to see the transformation of the town centre that was carried out.

Town Centre
‘Jamaica Inn’ transformation (photo: exploresouthlakeland.co.uk

The best walk from site into town takes you over the ancient 3-arched Devil’s Bridge, which crosses the River Lune and dates back to the 12th/13th Century.  It’s a popular site for tourists and has a butty/brew van and an ice-cream van parked up there.  It’s a favourite haunt for motorcyclists and we also noticed that several motorhomes stayed overnight in a parking lay-by nearby.

Devil’s Bridge
Walk over Devil’s Bridge
River Lune
Riverside walk takes you upstream into Kirkby Lonsdale

After the bridge, turn right and follow the path along the riverbank until you reach the 86 ‘Radical Steps’.  These steps take you up into St Mary’s churchyard and some gates lead out into the town centre.

Devil’s Bridge
Rainy riverside walk

According to a sign we read along the walk, the ‘Radical Steps’ came about in 1820 when Dr Francis Pearson, a man who held very strong Liberal views, obtained an order to divert a public footpath that ran through his garden at Abbots Brow.  Many locals were opposed to this and as a result the flight of steps that replaced the footpath became known as the ‘Radical Steps’ in reference to Dr Pearson’s radical politics.

1, 2, 3 …
… 84, 85, 86!
‘Radical Steps’

After climbing to the top of the steps you reach St Mary’s Churchyard.  If you turn right at the top and walk just a little further along you come to ‘Ruskin’s View’.  It’s the point from which the famous artist JMW Turner painted the River Lune in 1822.  His painting moved the poet John Ruskin to write:

‘I do not know in all my own country, still less in France or Italy, a place more naturally divine’

Ruskin was so impressed with the painting that he described the panorama as ‘one of the loveliest views in England, therefore in the world’. The painting became known as ‘Ruskin’s View’.

Ruskin’s View
Suzie & Bri’s View

The story of Ruskin’s View

The Norman St Mary’s Church and attractive churchyard is lovely to wander through.  We also went into the Church to look around and to light candles before walking out of the churchyard down an alleyway past the Sun Inn (well, we say ‘past’, we never pass a pub 😉).

We walked along Salt Pie Lane (formerly Cattle Market Yard).  This is where cattle used to be sold in the town, which led to a local lady deciding to make and sell hot salted mutton pies to the traders.  This salty pies created quite a thirst in the traders who would then visit the Green Dragon pub (now the Snooty Fox) to quench their thirst.  Apparently, the landlord of the pub was a relation of the pie-lady – great business idea!

There’s no shortage of great drinking holes.  To name a few we called into:- The Royal Hotel (serving Bowland Brewery ales), The Red Dragon Inn, The Sun Inn, The Kings Arms (live music), and The Orange Tree.

Bowland Brewery ales at The Royal Hotel

Be sure to call into the Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery in the centre which also serves some great local ales.

Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery

We enjoyed food at both The Red Dragon Inn and The Sun Inn during our stay.  We only ate from the bar menu at the Sun Inn but we’ll make sure we book in for an evening meal next time.  It’s a very popular place and they were having to turn people away as they were fully booked.   We also spent a few hours listening to some live music in the Kings Arms across the road from the Sun.  Great atmosphere!

It’s a pleasant stroll back to site from town and as we walked back over the bridge one night, we saw a humongous salmon jump twice down below.  We decided we’ll definitely have to buy a visitor’s permit and fish there some time!

The sun decided to appear for our journey home

Until next time …

ONWARD!>>>>

Suzie & Bri