Visit Lancashire

The Big Wheel - Christmas in Blackburn

Hmmm...try the Big Wheel, they said - knowing that I'm terrified of heights. That's your colleagues for you...always supportive - and always ready to make you suffer for their entertainment. So, that's how I came to be standing at the foot of Blackburn Town Centre's latest attraction for the Christmas season - a huge ferris wheel, reaching over 100ft (and then some!) into the air.

It was the first "flight", and all the great and the good of the town - Blackburn's "glitterati", if you like - were patiently queuing to get into one of the 24 gondolas and be first to experience views of the town from the air.

It's behind you!

Saturday afternoon saw me heading to the Grand Theatre for this year’s Christmas pantomime Peter Pan. With a mix of small screen stars and local favourites the next two hours passed in a whirlwind of songs, swordfighting, acrobatics and slap stick. Although Tinkerbell didn’t appear to have quite got her confidence on the roller skates Peter Pan has however found his magic dust and flies around the theatre with gusto. With water fights and comedy acrobats the show will certainly keep the kids entertained.

As we walked back to the car we passed the covered ice rink that has been set up in St Johns Square. Two things impressed me – the size of the rink will make great skating and the fact that it’s real ice! Skating and boot hire is £5 per person.

Diane

Christmas extravaganza at Barton Grange

Barton Grange Garden Centre, just outside of Preston, is now on my list of favourite shopping places after a whistlestop visit at the weekend. It's not 'just' a garden centre but it has a fantastic gift shop, fab farm shop and a cafe. But apart from that, they've gone wild for Christmas and their gift shop has been turned into a magical winter wonderland. This year's theme is ‘A World of Christmas’ and the displays are designed to represent different continents, countries and cities of the world including Africa, Thailand, India, Venice and the UK. But my favourite was a min-world complete with mountains, rivers and waterfalls, a zoo and a working railway! I can definitely understand why they've won 'Best Christmas display in the North West' two years running now.

Needless to say, I came away with far more things than I was planning on buying but it was a great experience and I'll be back again soon.

Psst, don't forget to visit the men's toilets (ladies, please ask first if you want to sneak a peak!), they may possibly have the most beautiful urinals in the world...!

Cilla

Brilliant Briardene

I am a bit of a traditionalist and do enjoy a Sunday roast with the family, so was delighted to have lunch at the Curbside Brasserie at the Briardene Hotel in Cleveleys which is quite close to home. Their restaurant is open to non-residents and offers a good choice of fayre under the direction of chef Deano. My wife and I opted for the full roast beef lunch consisting of ample portions of vegetables and divine Lakeland beef, superb roast potatoes (mine never come out that good) and Yorkshire Puddings. The menu choice was locally sourced and showed off the best of what the north west has to offer. Our two youngsters opted for sausage and chips, which again, were produced to an excellent standard and kept them quiet.

Sunday Lunch in Lancaster

I called in at the Foodworks restaurant at the Lancaster House Hotel for Sunday Lunch last week (8 November) and I have to say the meal was fantastic value for money. The food was first class and service was superb.  For £13 you can enjoy two courses and for £16 you can have three, in what can only be described as real Lancastrian surroundings. There are images around the walls to remind you of the County’s former manufacturing past that made Lancashire the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

However, the decor in the restaurant is contemporary with subtle lighting effects that create a relaxing dining ambience to compliment the traditional Sunday lunch menu.

By Mike Wilkinson

A Fabulous Evening ...

Being in the thousand strong audience when ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ returned to the world famous Tower Ballroom for the first time in 5 years was a fantastic experience to be a part of.

My favourite moment of the show was when Chris Hollins, claimed the audience had inspired him to do so well. Unfortunately the local lad, Craig Kelly dancing the Cha-cha-cha with Flavia Cacace, only managed a score of 17 from the 4 judges was voted off the show after being in the dance off with Ricky Groves and Erin Boag.

Do ghosts roam around Lancaster Maritime Museum?

Do ghosts roam around Lancaster Maritime Museum? Well, personally I remain unconvinced, but the team from Living TV's 'Most Haunted Live' were certainly giving it their best shot to find them. They came to the Maritime Museum as part of the 2009 Halloween special 'Eight Faces of Evil'. As it is live TV, I think they were asking a lot to expect ghosts to perform on cue and for much of the evening they appeared to be in hiding. But Ouija board activity in our fisherman's cottage display and the sense of a murder in the stores of our 18th century warehouse maybe suggested otherwise.  The next day a perceptive visitor remarked that our ghosts 'had all been upset' by the TV crew's interference the night before – but I've yet to find any evidence. Nothing has moved, there are no orbs or spooky groans and, for me, Lancaster Maritime Museum remain a very friendly place to be. But if people want to come down and test the atmosphere for themselves and see if sprits are at play, that's fine by me. All visitors are welcome!

Michelle Cooper, Assistant Keeper, Lancaster Maritime Museum.

Young Explorers at Clitheroe Castle

Many museums offer trails and treasure hunts for little ones, but I thought the recently redeveloped Clitheroe Castle Museum did it particularly well. As well as the tick list of objects to find and draw, they provided some great props to get children into the theme, in the form of an explorer’s hat and a brightly coloured rucksack containing a magnifying glass, pencil and sharpener (useful addition). This certainly kept my children happy – the four year old was volunteered by the other two to wear the hat and carry the backpack while they helped her find everything on the list.

Fright night in Lancashire

Sally's Tale: It was a dark, dark night in West Lancashire, the moon was out and the ghouls were ready for Farmaggedon– the ultimate terror experience!

I’m a big wimp generally when it comes to ghost trains and horror movies but this looked liked fun and it was, it was really good, scary fun.

First up was ‘Terror on the Farm’. We queued briefly outside a haunted house, complete with dancing skeletons and freakish dancers to wait our turn.  The majority of other thrill-seekers were teens, but there were also families and couples waiting, and wanting to be scared. Finally we were invited in (we were in a group of 4) and so made our way cautiously inside.  We followed dark passage ways through scary scenes and gory sets as blood thirsty actors jumped out, screamed and terrorised our path. The sound affects and the screams from other ‘victims’ added to the experience – which was as much fun as it was frightening!

Zoe's Tale: Having just left the other scare house I was a little on edge and could have done with a few minutes of mediation just to calm the nerves... With 'inmates' chasing and jumping out at me from behind coffins, tables and walls my pulse was racing the whole way around Insanity. The' shirking rooms' were particularly disturbing; being forced to push your way through a giant marshmallow sounds like fun, but in the dark with people pushing at your back and screams it overpowered my senses! After leaving Insanity the general feedback from the crowed was “excellent”! And I shall definitely be back next year too!

Who decided Halloween was so cool this year?

It seems we've all gone Halloween mad! Moorhouses Brewery in Pendle has seen a huge leap in beer sales. The brewer said the success was down to increased sales of its Pendle Witches ale in the run up to Halloween!

If you're joining in the Halloween fun, check out what's going on in the home of the Pendle Witches (that's Lancashire by the way).

MORE HALLOWEEN FUN THAN YOU CAN SHAKE A (BROOM)STICK AT!

Personally I'll be hoping for a visit to the Parr-a-Normal Party at Farmer Parr's the night before I do my own party on Halloween for my little boy's first birthday.

Sarah Lundy