This weekend marks the start of the Bowland Dark Skies Festival.
With stargazing, photography tips, family crafts and a dark-skies inspired food tour on the menu this year, the week-long programme offers a touch of late winter sparkle and half-term fun. Events will be taking place both online and at venues across the National Landscape.
The Forest of Bowland National Landscape (formerly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and is marking the occasion with a brand-new photography exhibition alongside its annual Dark Skies Festival.
Covering 800 square kilometres (300 sq miles) of rural Lancashire and North Yorkshire, Bowland’s distinctive landscape of high open fells, rich green lowlands and steep, wooded cloughs was recognised as being amongst the finest in the country and given its official status on 10th February 1964.
These qualities are encapsulated in Diamonds in the Landscape; a special exhibition of 30 images, all of which were chosen from entries submitted to the Forest of Bowland photography competition during autumn 2023.
From far-reaching moorland vistas and stunning wildlife shots to majestic woodlands and atmospheric pastoral scenes, the talented photographers have perfectly captured the variety and beauty of the Bowland landscape.
The exhibition will open at Clitheroe Castle Museum on the 10th of February and run until the 28th of April before moving to The Folly in Settle.
