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Alan McColm

Alan McColm is QFOL's Restaurant Critic and Travel reviewer. Alan is working all over the country ... more

 

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Gibbon Bridge Hotel, Forest of Bowland

 

 

The Gibbon Bridge Hotel
Nr Chipping
Forest of Bowland
Preston
Lancashire
PR3 2TQ

Tel: 01995 61456

www.gibbon-bridge.co.uk


This was another return journey, some sixteen or more years after our last visit and in the late July evening sunshine it was clear to us as we sat enjoying a chilled glass of wine in the fabulous gardens under the warm summer evening sun that we had missed many years of sheer pleasure deep in the Forest of Bowland. These gardens are among the finest ever to adorn any hotel, and we were simply thrilled to be able to enjoy the early part of the evening in genuine appreciation. The special moments admiring the many years of work undertaken to achieve such artistic perfection were certainly savoured, toasting our good fortune in revisiting on such a beautiful evening seemed appropriate, the four of us raised our glasses in appreciation.

The peace and tranquillity of the surroundings are there for all to see, little passing traffic other than residents of the hotel returning after a days walk in the countryside or hungry diners, excited to enjoy a return visit, and keen to see the gardens before dinner are all there is to disturb the silence of real countryside. You are never that far from civilisation, ten minutes from Ribchester and Longridge and fifteen minutes from Whalley and Clitheroe, but it feels a hundred miles away from the traffic filled towns that dominate the landscape.

A delightful retreat!

Gibbon Bridge has attracted applause, honours and awards over many years, and I have been able to appreciate the continued growth from a distance, living in Berkshire some two hundred and more miles away from our previous home in Lancashire, a short drive from this popular and attractive country hotel and restaurant. Opened in 1982 and still under the enthusiastic and highly energetic hands of owner Janet Simpson, the place has been transformed from its humble origins as a country caf

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