It was established in 1991 after Alan Whalley a local businessman saw the potential in an area of waste ground in the village centre. What followed was a great amount of community effort and fundraising supported by local government funding to create a vital asset for the villagers (and Dotcom Walkers) to enjoy. After our match we always go for a short(ish) walk. You would think after four visits we would have exhausted all possible routes but not a bit of it. Such is the network of public footpaths and bridleways I suspect we’ll be going to Sabden for many years to come.
Time: 2-3 hours
Map: OS Explorer 287 West Pennine Moors
Map by kind permission of Johnston Press
until you reach the edge of the village in ¼ mile. When you reach The Whins on the right
turn into it and follow the drive as it bends to the left. At the junction turn right as a tarmac lane takes you to a complex of smart dwellings. After the first on the left bear left to join a footpath that after a gate passes a large barn
and continues on a grassy path with mature trees to the left and a relatively recent plantation to the right. After a wooden gate
keep ahead with a fence line on your right and open fields to the left. Continue to a kissing gate by a remnant wall
to enter a huge field. From the gate bear right to pick up a marker post
to aid you on a course that dips to a gully and presses on in the direction of another marker post to a metal gate. Through this bear right skirting the edge of a wood to cross a stile next to a metal gate.
Aim diagonally left climbing to the top corner of the pasture just below Wiswell Moor Houses. Here turn sharp left on a footpath that follows the edge of woodland on a long descent to Whalley Road. As the path clears the trees aim for the left of two stiles ahead
and then keep ahead edging to the right of a property
and arrive on Whalley Road.
and then left over a stone wall immediately after a garden. In the field bear right to a corner and then follow the boundary on the left to a ladder stile
all but hidden by trees. Keep ahead with Sabden Brook on the left to arrive at a footbridge.
Over this bear right to a stile in a fence
and turn left onto a path taking you up through woodland
bringing you (eventually) to the horse riding centre of Readwood.
As you reach buildings turn left on a footpath that takes you through a riding paddock. After a stile on the far left corner
keep ahead to a stile in the hedgerow leading into fields. After crossing this the path traverses a long field bearing right through a gap in gorse (close to a wind turbine) and continues to a corner. Here cross a stone stile and follow the wall
to reach Back Lane. Cross to a stile directly opposite.
Over this cross the brow of the slope which is the highest part of the walk. With views over to Burnley and other delights keep ahead to enter a strip of woodland reaching a large farming complex at New Hall. Turn left. As you come to the drive of a second farm turn left through the second of two metal gates
and bear right to the corner of Shady Walks an area of woodland.
Keep right at the corner and soon after cross a stone stile to enter the woods. Follow the path until it arrives at Trap Lane in a little over ¼ mile. Cross the lane and follow the edge of woodland
until it comes to an end in a little under ½ a mile. Here turn left over a stone stile to reach Back Lane. Turn right.
After passing a car park on the right turn left
onto a footpath leading downhill with a magnificent view of Sabden and its surroundings.
Keep on the path until you reach Padiham Road. Turn left for the centre.
