We're Going On Safari

It may not be the Serengeti but the stunning countryside around Nicky Nook will make a perfect location for eco-holidays.

- Roger Borrell

THE PROSPECT of going on a wildlife safari in Lancashire is not as far-fetched as it may sound. In fact, it will be happening quite soon if Jim Whewell and his family have their way.

They own the 800-acre Wyresdale Park, an estate close to the pretty village of Scorton which sits midway between Lancaster and Preston.

While the family home is Wyresdale Hall, the iconic heart of the estate is Nicky Nook, the fell that has been a favourite for generations of walkers seeking brisk exercise and spectacular views. ‘There is the hall and the hill,’ says Jim. ‘But Nicky Nook is the defining characteristic of the estate.’

Like many owners of old estates, the Whewells are having to adapt to the pressures of the 21st century and that means finding new and innovative ways to earn the substantial amount of money required to keep the place going.

Shooting and fishing, overseen by Jim’s father, James, remain a core element of Wyresdale along with tenant farms, lakes, upland and open fells, peat bogs, classic pastures and 100 acres of ancient woodland.

Wyresdale was once a viable 10,000 acres when owned in the Victorian era by the Ormrod family, bankers and cotton manufacturers from Bolton. They had the Gothic revival hall built in the 1850s and spent 20 years transforming the area into one of the county’s premier sporting estates. They also developed what is thought to have been Europe’s biggest fishery, supplying trout worldwide. At one time it required its own narrow gauge railway into Scorton.