MMM – September 2019

58 outandaboutlive.co.ukSeptember 2019

US AND OUR ’VAN

Andy Stothert...

and his wife, Marion, have

been travelling by campervan

for nearly 40 years and still

haven’t quite got the hang of it

2007 MWB (5.4m) 2.3-litre

custom-builtFiat van

conversion with front lounge

by NuVenture Campers.

Nimble and light, it gets

through some of the hazards

the big ones get stuck on. And

we love throwing open that big

sliding door onto the view...

A

bout eight miles fr om our old hovel,

buried in the folds of the Lancas hire

countryside, is a campsite c alled

Charity Farm.

There isn’t even a sign outside, butI

know it’s there, and acouple of times a

month as I pedal my way leisurel y by, I’ve

always wondered what it’s lik e.

Consequently Charity Farm has become

something of a small fixationin my cranial

canyon. Furthermore, there is a ca fé

somewhere in there, too, andthe promise

of grub, cooked by someone else,without

moving from a site has always been a

magnetic attraction forus.

For se veral years now the Curiosity

Pressure Gauge has been rising, andthe only

way to relieve it would be to travel the eight

miles in the ‘van to Charity Farm and then

spend a couple of daysin boots exploring

the countryside, which I normally ju st bolt

through on the pu sh-iron.

But goi ng on holiday in the ’van just eight

miles away?

“It’s not even worth packing the ’van! ”

was the reaction when I finally plucked up

the courage to put forth the proposition to

my good lady.

Then I told her about the ca fé. A place

where they do all-day breakfast. “When ar e

we going?”she asks.

The upshot was that we set off to Charity

Farm with no definite planexcept we had

five days to satisfy my curiosity about

Charity Farm, and some other lo cal places

that havebeen botheri ng me for some

while. The small East Lancashire town of

Darwen being the main one.

It took us about 20 minutes alon g the

locallanes to reach Charity Farm, which lies

on the flanksof Harrock Hill, near nowhere

significant. It was atypically glorio us

Lancas hire day so we lit the fridge, pulled

on the boots and strolled up to the top of

Harrock Hill, which has a stunningview

eastwards towards the West Pennine Moors.

We hadn’t been back from Spain for

long, andthe shockingly bright-green hues,

alon g with the sc ent of hawthorns, and a

luxuriant carpet of bluebells made it seem

almost un real.

Back toCharity Farm, though, andthe

café fortea, though it could’ve been dinner,

as I had wine with my jacketpota to.

The small smoked bacon lover had

the predictable all- day breakfast, butthe

really great thing about the ca fé is that it is

housed in anold Nissen hut, and feels like

a ca ve furnished with 1950sAmerican-style

chrome andred vinyl sea ting.

The day after, we took on the world.

Surely it isn’t ju st us who try this? Try to do

everything, all at once, because we may not

pass this way again?

There are public fo otpaths across t he

hill (a mound really) fr om the back gate of

the farm and which lead to the pretty(ish)

village of Parbold, where there is a se lection

CharityFarm

›

Parbold

Fairy Glen

Rivington

Pike

Darwen

BrockleheadFarm

›

›

›

TRAVEL Lancashire