Log cabins in shadow of Pendle Hill get thumbs-up

He feels the new buildings – constructed from trees that grew on the site – will help boost tourism in the county.

The location is Boothman Park at Barley, which has already been successful as a fishery, complete with newly-created lakes. The holiday cottages are in two forms. There are three short stay facilities aimed at fishermen, and three larger holiday cottages. There is also an office to manage the park.

The buildings have been created using a lot of recycling material.

As well as using Scots Pine grown on the site, when it was run by the water authority to form the exterior, stone has been recovered from the land to form bases.

Some windows have come from a former US Army base, and much of the floors are created from Canadian maple, which had once been in the roof of the old Nelson Leader printworks in Every Street, Nelson.

Boothman Park has already had 12,000-plus new trees planted. There is lots of wildlife like deer, foxes and buzzards.

Owner Frank Wren said: “Without the help of the planning department at Pendle Council, we wouldn’t have started the log cabin facilities.” He also thanked the Pendle Tourism Forum for its help and initiatives.

The cabins may look rustic on the outside, but have modern facilities internally, including tasteful bathrooms.

A team of Latvians, who are used to working on log cabins in their own country, have had the skill to help create them.

Mr Wren said: “They even knew to use sphagnum moss, which we have here on site to fill the gaps between logs!”

Boothman Park has three newly-created fishing lakes and two smaller stock lakes. Coun. Holtom said: “I am very impressed with it. It will help tourism in Lancashire. People don’t realise that tourism and leisure in Lancashire are our biggest industry, worth more than £3 billion a year.”

The scheme has not had any grants from authorities, but Coun. Holtom suggested some might be available.

The log cabin project has been going on for 10 months and was slowed by the winter’s snow, but it is now expected to be finished in four to six weeks.

Saba Iftikhar, the scheme’s project co-ordinator, said: “I love every minute or working here in a delightful environment. A lot of people say it is like being in Canada when they see it!”