IF YOU fancy a good walk and want a balance between history and natural history, visit the area around Leighton Hall.

There was a fortified manor house around Leighton on the banks of Morecambe Bay but all the ancient buildings were destroyed by the Jacobite Rising in 1715.

The damage was done by the government troops and the house was rebuilt by George Towneley in 1760 and further additions were made in 1870. The present owner is Mr Richard Gillow Reynolds, who can trace his ancestry back to Adam d'Avranches in 1246.

There is one great advantage of such estates so far as natural history is concerned. The land has been undisturbed and the breeding mammals and birds can also trace their ancestry back to Norman times.

A network of public footpaths run around the hall and the wild birds are impressive.

Equally impressive are the birds of prey which during the summer months are flown by trained falconers. The house is open in the afternoons from May to July and in September, except on Mondays and Saturdays, but party and school visits can be arranged at any time throughout the year. Inside the house are some wonderful examples of Gillow furniture, obviously relating to the time when the Gillow family owned the hall.

There is a splendid games table as well as "functional" tables, chairs and other rare examples of the cabinet maker's art. Few houses can have such a beautiful view and the well-marked footpaths through the grounds lead down towards Silverdale and Leighton Moss, one of the finest bird reserves in Europe and run by the RSPB.

Here I have often seen otter, bittern and bearded tits.

A week ago Russell Carter, one of our nature spies, visited Leighton Moss and spotted a male marsh harrier as well as hen harrier, water rail, heron, greylag goose and shoveler.

I had parked my car near the little village of Warton, which was once owned by the ancestors of the American president George Washington.

As I retraced my steps from Leighton Moss to the hall the sun had managed to penetrate the January fog. Pheasants seemed to be everywhere, a skylark twittered and almost - but not quite - burst into song and a snipe rose from a damp patch of land.

The white limestone of Leighton Hall looked at its best in the evening light.

I know of no better place in England to see the very best of both history and natural history.

From East Lancashire, the Leighton area is reached via the M6 to Carnforth and then along the A6.

Both the hall and the moss are well signed and the footpaths are also well marked.

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