The Ribble valley so close, so accessible and less crowded. Pendle Hill sits looking over the valley like some slumbering giant, acting like a guardian of the whole area and viewed with affection whether you see it from Clitheroe or from Nelson.

The hill itself is a magnet for walkers who can then refresh themselves afterwards in the many excellent restaurants and pubs dotted across the valley. Villages like Downham have been used as film sets in the past, and of course much of the land is vested in the Duchy of Lancaster.

The inspiration for this work came from viewing the hill one March morning as it was clothed in the early frost. It was a moment to savour, for in what seemed like a trice, this slumbering colossus suddenly shed its winter cloak revealing, under the warming Spring sunshine, its more familiar tones of purple and orange from the bracken and grasses emerging from their winter hibernation.