Visit Lancashire

Accrington's Artistic Brilliance

Visiting Accrington’s Haworth Art Gallery is like stepping into a jewellery box. The oak panelled entrance hall and richly carved interior features are classic examples of the Arts and Crafts movement. Combined with the iridescent colours projected through the heraldic stained glass windows creates an exquisite backdrop to the treasures within.

Most visitors are surprised to discover that the Haworth Art Gallery is home to Europe’s largest collection of Tiffany Glass. The collection consists of a variety of glass tiles, a Tiffany library lamp and a wide range of vases and mosaic samples including the distinctive Art Nouveau cockatoo mosaic. The mosaic panel depicts a pair of Australian Greater Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, perched in a tree against a sunset sky. The lustre eff ect surface is achieved by preparing the glass with metallic oxides, then exposing it to acid fumes. Attributed to Joseph Briggs, it demonstrates his skill as a draughtsman, first developed as an apprentice engraver in Accrington.

Share your Photographs #Wherelifefeelsgood

We all just love taking photos, be it on our phones or our cameras, we are taking more photos than ever before. As much as we like to take photographs we also love to share them. Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, twitter, Snapchat; our social media time lines are bursting with photos of friends and family, fabulous views, meals we eat, cute animals, the list is endless. Some make you smile, others make you a tiny bit jealous and some make you want to drop everything and go on holiday that very day.

When you visit Lancashire in 2017 don’t forget to capture some of your favourite sights and experiences and then tag online using #Wherelifefeelsgood so we can share with the world just how much you are enjoying yourself. We asked Andrew Barton from Fat Badger Photography to give us some pointers on capturing the best photographs.

Shoot at night
Keep your camera as still as possible. Low light means your camera will select a longer shutter speed. Consider using a tripod or a nearby wall to support your camera in order to reduce blur in your shot.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The key to good food photography is lighting. Try to place a light above the food in order to reduce the amount of shadows. You could use a piece of tracing paper to diffuse the light and make it softer on your subject.

Action!
Action shots in general mean that your subject is fast moving and as a photographer you’ll want to try and capture your subject as sharply as possible. If your camera allows, select a fast shutter speed such as 1/1000th of a second or more, which will help to stop the action. Some cameras have a ‘sport’ mode which will help. Up

Close with Nature
Always try and take the images from the same height as the subject. Getting eye-line perspective gives a sense of being immersed in the animal’s world.

Share you images using #wherelifefeelsgood
 

This article featured in the 2017 Lancashire Visitor Magazine. Read the magazine below or order a copy

 

 

Towering Masterpiece

Who can resist the heritage and majesty of the Blackpool Tower?
Opened in 1894 and still welcoming visitors over 120 years later with its dazzling 120ft square ballroom, family attractions and of course the magnificent 518ft tower itself. After a 69 second ascent you’ll feel on top of the world, but do you dare step out on to the 5cm thick glass SkyWalk? We promise you that it can hold the weight of two elephants but how did they get them up there to check?

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year in the 2016 Lancashire Tourism Awards,the Tower Ballroom is now famous for its annual appearance on Strictly Come Dancing but even if you can’t dance, make time for afternoon tea in this glorious setting and take a lead from the Shakespeare quote above the stage… 

"bid me discourse I will enchant thine ear."

Check out events at The Blackpool Tower over half term

This article featured in the 2017 Lancashire Visitor Magazine  - read online below or order your copy

 

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Top 5 Lancashire Playgrounds

When it comes to family friendly activities we think it's the children and parents who know best. So we asked parents on Facebook and Twitter to tell us their favourite playgrounds in Lancashire. This was their 5.

1. Park View 4U, Lytham Award winning 3-generational play park.
2. Worden Park, LeylandPlaypark, miniature railway and maze.
3. Happy Mount Park, MorecambePlay park, splash zone and trampolines.
4. Withy Grove Park, PrestonWoodland and children’s adventure playground.
5. Samlesbury Hall, PrestonNew for 2016 featuring a Mayflower shipand miniature replica of the hall itself

Share your favourite Lancashire Playgrounds using #Wherelifefeelsgood

Top 5 Free attractions in Lancashire

If you're looking for activities and places to visit during the school holidays (that are friendly on the wallet) look no further. These five attractions are all free to visit and have a variety of activities and events that will keep all ages interested.

1. Brockholes Nature Reserve, Preston - 250 acre reserve with adventure playground and floating visitor centre.
2. Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston - Activities for kids and regular events.
3. World Horse Welfare Penny Farm, Blackpool - Meet the horses and ponies who have been rescued and cared for by the centre.
4. The Whitaker, Rawtenstall Intriguing natural history collection, kid’s events and cafe.
5. Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery - Varied collection, events and kids activities

This top 5 featured in the 2017 Lancashire Visitor Magazine - read online below or order a copy

 

 

Lancashire from above

Last year Visit Lancashire commissioned SkyOptics to capture our stunningly beautiful county from the air and the result was a fantastic film that showcases Lancashire at its finest.

Col Lloyd, pilot and founder of SkyOptics, relished the opportunity to exploit the fantastic vantage point that the drones provided. He explained "Each of the locations had its own challenges. The downhill Enduro race at Lee Quarry was exciting to film and allowed us to get some great high speed tracking shots with our drone. The East Lancashire Railway took a lot of planning and logistics to get the aerial shots of the trains. Morecambe was interesting, flying out over the Bay area and Williamson Park was a challenge and took a lot of planning with the director of the walkabout theatre production. We wanted to film the action of the outdoor theatre, but rightly so, this had to be done with the drone never in line of sight of the audience. And Lytham Festival was exciting to fly at when Bryan Adams was playing to several thousand people." "I’ve been a keen cyclist for several years, but wasn’t aware of the amount of routes and great places to ride in the Forest of Bowland. When you see it from 400ft up, it’s certainly makes you want to go back and explore on two wheels."

Leye D Johns My Lancashire

Lancashire’s 2016 Tourism Superstar and all round visitor ambassador. Leye runs VIVA Blackpool, a show and event venue on Blackpool’s famous promenade.

Q. What do you love about living and working in Lancashire?
A. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of wonderful things there are to see and do across the whole of the county, there’s everything from beautiful beaches to glorious countryside. Blackpool has its own special buzz and I love seeing our customers coming in through the doors at VIVA, they have all come for our unique blend of entertainment, fun and razzamatazz, so whether they are young or not so young, we hope they all have an enjoyable night.

Q. When you’re not entertaining Blackpool visitors, where do you go to relax?
A. Ideally I like to be fed grapes whilst being fanned by palm leaves but failing that I love going for a walk along Blackpool Promenade. I always try to stop at the Comedy Carpet for a quick read and seeing all that entertainment history laid out like that makes me proud to carry on the traditions of so many big name stars.