Pretty village deserves to be called the best

I FIRST began writing this column in 1971 and during the last 30 years I have got to know East Lancashire pretty well.

However, I have just had a very pleasant surprise. I was asked to judge the finals of the Lancashire's Best Kept Village competition. It has resulted in a new approach to the county and I found nooks and crannies which I had not seen before.

Blacko was one of the winners and I thought I knew the village pretty well. How wrong I was and what a grand day's walk I had!

Blacko sits astride the steep and old turnpike road linking Barrowford with Gisburn. It is a ribbon of a village crouched contentedly overlooking Blacko Tower. This was built around 1890 by a local grocer called Jonathan Stansfield. Apparently, he built this folly with his own hard-earned brass so that he could see as far as Gisburn where his girlfriend lived. I wonder if he ever married her?

The walker's route to Blacko is via Higherford and Watermeetings but for once I followed the main road. This enabled me to enjoy the sight of terraces of well-maintained terraced cottages and the delightful Rising Sun pub. The cottages date to the very early days of the cotton industry.

Blacko has really set out its stall to look pretty and almost every house is smothered by hanging baskets. The post office looks like a florist's, the war memorial is a bit of land fit for heroes to be celebrated in and even the bus stop rivals the Southport Flower Show. Beneath the flowers the buildings are a joy and even in winter Blacko is worth celebrating.

The school has played its part and the pupils have painted murals and designed their own colourful signpost. This is East Lancashire at it's very best.

There is no doubt that Stansfield's tower is the focal point of the village but, despite some statements to the contrary, this structure has nowt to do with witchcraft. The route to the tower is now well-signed. Twenty nine steps lead to the top and there is an annual race to the summit and back.

If Blacko Tower has nothing to do with witchcraft we must ask if Malkin Tower does exist. Malkin Tower Farm is less than a mile away from Stansfield's and this could be the location of Old Mother Demdike's abode.

I always think it is a shame that the Witch Trials of 1612 cast an evil shadow over Pendle. Writers compete to write about mist, mystery, magical potions, misery and morbid mutterings. It destroyed the reality of one of the most attractive landscapes in Britain.

On this beautiful autumn day I enjoyed celebrating this Pendleside village which can now boast that it is Lancashire's Best Small Village. From the post office I located a footpath leading down to Pendle Water. I reached the stream but before turning left to pick up my car in Barrowford I had my picnic. I tried not to but I still disturbed first a heron and then a kingfisher and these were added bonuses to what had been a wonderful day out.

I looked up to Blacko, with its winding street and tower. I looked at my notes on the other villages in contention. I had a decision to make. Bonny Blacko won "by a street," if you'll can excuse the pun.