Had a catch-up with the Forest of Bowland National Landscape team this week – they’ve just launched the 2025 ‘Discover Bowland’ Guide ! If you’ve never seen one, it’s a yearly publication packed with info. Super useful for anyone visiting the area and wanting to make the most of their trip. It also offers a great insight into Bowland’s culture, heritage, and the brilliant people and businesses that make it tick.
The 2025 guide was officially launched at the lovely Eight at Gazegill.
Seriously, if you’ve never visited, I can highly recommend it. It was a bustling morning, with a hearty crowd of folks from the Bowland Sustainable Tourism Business network and various partner organisations.
It was lovely to be part of the Discover Bowland launch. I was very fortunate that one of my illustrations from the nature recovery project was chosen for the cover, and I’m happy with the few tweaks I made to fit the layout. I was pleased to see the illustration repurposed and wrapped around such lovely content.
As the 2025 year’s guide dives into the Forest of Bowland’s hidden gems, fantastic activities and must-visit places. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for details on “Nature Calling,” a really meaningful project by rapper OneDa and artist Rob St John. You can read more about it on page 66 of the guide. The project itself is part of the much bigger national arts programme aiming to connect all 34 National Landscapes in England. But at the launch day, Rob St John gave a short, thought-provoking presentation. Discussing the phrase “Are you lost?” and talking about how, through workshops, he’s been exploring and capturing more diverse voices and perspectives on what Bowland is. Even more crucially, what Bowland might become, especially in the face of climate breakdown. It felt incredibly immediate and timely.
You can follow Rob St John and his project on his website.
And… if you’re curious about what I’ve been secretly working away on, you might want to flick through to pages 44 to 49 of the new guide. It’s an exciting new commission that I’ll be sharing about very soon!
In the meantime, you can grab physical copies of the guide and the events programme from local Tourist Information Centres and various hospitality businesses throughout the Forest of Bowland. Or, if you’d like a copy posted to you, just email Hetty Byrne at: hetty.byrne@lancashire.gov.uk.
Alternatively, if you can’t wait (and who could blame you?), there’s a digital download available for 2025. You can download it right here.
That way, you don’t have to wait a second longer!
