I have always loved walking straight from the house. It allows me to be spontaneous and optimises walking time rather than having to drive somewhere and park up.
Having to walk for half an hour just to get out of town used to be the only problem.
Not any more though; a public footpath leads past our new house straight up onto Pendle Hill and many, many walks lead out from Sabden into the surrounding countryside in all directions.
We have been here a month now and rather than write up every walk in detail, I thought it might be nice to give a flavour of our immediate area by talking about the walks we have done 'from the back door'.
The problem is deciding which path to take - there are so many - but here are a couple we have explored.
Sabden Circular: there are a few of these but the route we walked took us anticlockwise through Heyhouses, circling Churn Clough Craggs, across the moors to the Nic of Pendle and on to Wiswell Moor, before returning via The Whins through the village.
It is an easy, low level walk (mostly) after an initial uphill of about 20minutes beyond Heyhouses, which is the pastureland through the valley, up to Churn Clough Craggs. The area behind the reservoir is quite overgrown with ferns and the path can be difficult to follow, but it is worth the effort as new planting has made it a lovely woodland area with Rowan, Elder, Holly and Oak and lovely babbling brooks running through, making their way downhill.
Once through the woods you are onto moorland, above the reservoir with lovely views stretching across the valley. I love the moorland; it is so quiet and tranquil, it's only occupants sheep and birds and the occasional dog walker.
After crossing Clitheroe Road, the landscape changes to pastureland with cows and sheep grazing. The path winds gently down to Wiswell Moor and then turns sharply back across the fields eventually bringing you into Sabden through The Whins, a beautiful hamlet of houses. We walk through the village, calling at The Pendle Witch for a refreshing half of cider before the final few hundred metres back to our back door.
Sabden Fold Circular: This is another fairly easy walk which runs along the lower slopes of Pendle Hill away from the village to Sabden Fold, a small Hamlet of just a few houses and farms, and then back along the roads or fields to enjoy views of Sabden on the return leg.
The path runs down from the house and past the Farm before following a track up and through two more farms, the glamorously named New York Farm and the more typically named Ratten Clough.
A hike uphill across grazing and moorland, through gates and over stiles, leads through another farm then along a shady, muddy Lane which tracks down into Sabden Fold.
A sharp right through the hamlet leads up a steep lane where there are two options for the return. The first follows the road and after a short climb gives nice valley views all the way to Sabden. The other option leads along the valley floor through fields full of sheep and cattle and through coppice of newly planted indiginous trees back into Sabden.
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