Now set in quiet countryside, Tockholes was once very busy with people, and youngsters can have lots of fun finding the ruined houses at Halliwell Fold and Hollinshead Hall.

There is an extensive reservoir at Upper Roddlesworth with lots of quiet little inlets and secret places to enjoy a game of hide and seek.

From the car park take care to cross the normally quiet but narrow road and pass through a kissing gate.

The wide track bears left and descends through trees and areas which are often full of flowers in the spring and summer.

From the car park look up to see Darwen Tower on the hill.

This looks like a space ship about to take off. It was built in 1897 to celebrate Victoria being Queen for 60 years.

At Halliwell Fold and bridge take lots of time to find the ruins of the old mill workers’ houses.

Also look out for old quarries which were important when the Lancashire towns were being built.

Huge slabs were cut by hand to make street pavements.

Some of these paving stones can be seen around the bridge and up to Hollinshead.

The cobbled road to the hall was also quarried locally.

Climb the gentle slope with the unpolluted river on the right. Continue for under half a mile.

Hollinshead Hall is another place to linger and look at the well house.

Children love to picnic in the ruins of the house and compare what they are eating with the food grown in the gardens of the old hall.

Retrace your steps to Halliwell Fold Bridge. Cross the bridge and turn right.

Pass through extensive woodlands full of wildlife even though most of the trees are conifers planted to prevent erosion undermining the foundations of the reservoir.

Approach a bridge over a stream. Cross the bridge and turn left.

This ascends to the reservoir ideal for bird watching and pebble skimming.

The Roddlesworth reservoirs were constructed in the 1860s to provide essential water for the Lancashire cotton towns and for the even faster growing City of Liverpool.

The plantations, now the home of jays and woodpeckers, were planted around 1900 and consist of 200 acres (81 hectares) but with lots of clearings in which grow spring flowers, especially bluebells.

Although dominated by conifers it is worth looking out for native trees including rowan, birch and oak.

The stream leading out of the reservoir is the home of dippers and kingfishers whilst the reservoir itself is popular with anglers and birdwatchers.

From the reservoir stroll up and down the obvious track through Tockholes Plantation and back to the starting point.