Follow the waymarked route from the car park and wander along wooded paths through dappled light and birdsong into a land of Narnia. Rustling leaves tell of deer, foxes, squirrels and hares watching but unseen. Continue through mossy limestone grottos, past a ruined cottage, the cathedral-like Beech Circle, majestic yews and reach your destination - the Pepperpot obelisk commanding its spectacular vista across Morecambe Bay and beyond to the Yorkshire Pennines and Cumbrian fells. Visit late on an autumn afternoon and you'll be rewarded with the best sunset in Britain. This is the magic of Eaves Wood, Silverdale. Later refresh with real ales and guest beers at the adjacent Woodlands Hotel – a gothic mansion redolent of the Adams Family, but that’s another story.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-arnsideandsilverdale/
Woodlands Hotel, Woodlands Drive, Silverdale, Carnforth, LA5 0RU
01524 701655
Google map: bit.ly/ccCgXY

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Nestled in the Forest of Bowland, this beautiful park was a great day out for all the family for only £15. We arrived to find peacocks wandering, pot bellied pigs snoring and a frog in the toilet block! The owners happily showed us around the grounds introducing us to the baby wild boars and chicks only three days old. Our children loved the great range of animals from meercats to miniature donkeys, wallabies and whooper swans, the tractor ride and barrel ride and their dad loved the adventure playground. We all ate in the cafe – delicious homemade soup, burgers and cakes. Half the price of some of the larger animal parks. We walked off the cake with a hike in the woods spotting wrens and robins and a variety of wild flowers. A gem of a place.

Chipping, Nr Preston
01995 61554, wildboarpark.co.uk.
Admission £4.50 adults, £4 children. Family ticket £15
Google map: tinyurl.com/3a3efp4

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Where's the best place to see the the aurora borealis? During your next camping holiday in the UK. Never mind a trip to Scandinavia, Canada or Alaska, there are rare occasions when the Northern Lights can be seen in the night sky here. No need to look out of the tent every night though, just subscribe to the free Aurora Alert email service run by researchers at Lancaster University. They will automatically send you an email when geomagnetic activity indicates that there may be chance of seeing the lights in the UK. If it's dark enough, with clear skies and you are far enough away from street lighting look for red and green lights in the northern skies.

www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/cgi-bin/subscribe

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This a website dedicated to self guided walks exploring the diversity of Lancashire's countryside. Through its use of digital photographs many of the routes described can be followed almost "virtually". For this reason the website will be particularly attractive to novice walkers. A theme of the website is that Lancashire's countryside is too easily overlooked because of its proximity to the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, and yet it provides wonderful walking.

www.lancashirewalks.com

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