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Here are some pictures from a short walk from Letcliffe Park on a sunny May Sunday.

We left Letcliffe by the stone style in the eastern boundary wall of the park and crossed to the end of Hodge Lane. The main picture shows the single tree atop the hill looking east.

Above Eastcliffe, we passed the ruined cottage and viewed the Barnoldswick vista before contouring along the hillside and crossed the lane which leads to Moor Side.

Following the wall side path, our walk took us through a buttercup filled meadow, then pasture with grazing sheep and their lambs.more

The beck in the shady tree lined gill was deliciously cool and refreshing. Only a few weeks previously, this would have been a raging torrent of water coming off Weets Hill.

Our return to Letcliffe took us by Folly Lane, Forty Steps and the newly refurbished sett paved path to the bottom entrance to the park.

Photos by Tom and David Whipp.

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Greenberfield Locks are nice and handy to go for a short walk.

The Lock Stop cabin is a good spot for refreshments at the beginning and end of a walk.

Beyond the locks, quiet countryside takes control of the towpath.

Dairy cows, sheep and horses graze and birds skim the water taking their fill of insects.

A good circuit takes you northwards along the towpath. Past bridge 158 and round the bend, a style on your right skirts you around the Rolls-Royce Ghyll Brow plant over the fields. (This can be a muddy trod especially at the gate holes.more..).

You can complete a short circuit by turning right when you reach the road or add some length to the route by going left down the hill (Ghyll Brow) and crossing the road to find the gate taking you on the path past Ghyll Hall Farm to Ghyll Church. Ghyll Lane leads you back towards town.

Crossing Skipton Road and bearing right brings you back towards the canal and locks.

These photos were taken during a rare sunny day in September 2012.

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The Greenberfield area was a good location to view an August Bank Holiday sunset.

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Barnoldswick has a unique clock which uses the 12 different letters of the town's name instead of numbers.

With twelve different letters, Barnoldswick is one of the longest place names in Britain without a repeated letter.

Barnoldswick resident Pamela Oddie came up with the idea for the clock using these twelve letters when the town council was looking for a design for a Barnoldswick mug to commemorate the millennium in 2000.

The design's use of both a red and a white rose refers to the Lancashire/Yorkshire border status of Barnoldswick and the town's continuing battles in the Wars of the Roses.more

The town council commissioned thousands of mugs for local children and a new clock for the town square.

The designs for both clock and mug, which be seen in the gallery, have a significant difference.

The mugs, which were purchased from a Lancashire based company, have the red rose bigger than the white.

But the Yorkshire based clock makers refused to follow the same design for the clock face; they said they couldn't make a clock with a white rose smaller than the red. Their clock came with a small red rose surrounded by a large white one!

Since the original clock was erected on Albert Road on the Town Square, a mini clock tower has been built as part of an award winning bus shelter on Barnoldswick's Station Road. This clock has four faces (all of which have the white rose bigger than the red...).

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Bill and Ben are Flowerpot Men who live in Barnoldswick Town Square.

The twins are very proud that they live in the town square. They grow lots of colourful flowers during the summer.

People come from miles around to look at Bill and Ben and say 'ooh' and 'aah' and tell Bill and Ben how good they look and how pretty their flowers are.

Bill and Ben came to Barnoldswick in 2010. A man called Dave had made them specially for the square. Dave makes lots of big flowerpots but Bill and Ben are very special flowerpots, as we shall see!

Since Bill and Ben came to live in the town square, the flowers have grown better and better and better.more

Even though they are only young, Bill and Ben weigh lots and lots. The twins eat a great deal of soil. That's why they are so heavy.

Bill and Ben are very good. Bill and Ben behave really well. All summer and most of the year, Bill and Ben sit on the square and grow lots of flowers.

But in autumn, when all the leaves are falling off the trees, Bill and Ben go to live on Fernlea Avenue.

Dave made Bill and Ben so that they can move around. But Bill and Ben are so heavy, and their legs are so short that they need a big truck called Jaycee Bee to help them move about.

A kind man called John drives Jaycee and gently picks up Bill and moves him to Fernlea Avenue. Then John and Jaycee do the same with Ben.

There's a lot to see on Fernlea Avenue. Bill and Ben are very excited. They get to sit very close to each other.

Bill and Ben think it's colder and windier on Fernlea Avenue than on the square.

Bill and Ben would like John and Jaycee to take them somewhere warm where they could grow lots of flowers, even in the winter. Bill and Ben would like very much to go and stay at the Eden Project. But John and Jaycee says the twins are too heavy to carry all the way to Cornwall.

In spring, John comes back with Jaycee Bee.

First John and Jaycee pick up Ben and take him to sit on the square.

Then John and Jaycee pick up Bill and take him to sit on the town square too.

Bill and Ben are very happy sitting on the square again.

A man called Jim looks after Bill and Ben.

Jim makes sure that Bill and Ben get to grow lots of lovely flowers.

Bill and Ben love growing flowers!

The flowers grow and grow.

The flowers grow over Bill and Ben's heads.

The flowers grow over Bill and Ben's shoulders.

The flowers grow over Bill and Ben's bodies.

The flowers grow so big that Bill and Ben are almost hidden!

Bill and Ben get very thirsty looking after all the flowers. Jim makes sure that Bill and Ben get plenty to drink. Jim gives Bill and Ben lots of food, too.

Bill and Ben are very special at growing flowers.

But what makes them very, very special indeed is a BIG secret... Bill and Ben's secret is why the flowers grow so well in Barnoldswick's Town Square.

Sometimes, if you are very, very quiet when you go to the town square, you can hear Bill and Ben talking!

Bill and Ben chatter away to each other.

Bill and Ben talk to the pigeons.

In the summer, Bill and Ben talk to the friendly hanging baskets that visit the square.

Bill and Ben talk to Flo Flagpole, who lives on the other side of the square.

Sometimes, Flo Flagpole is too busy flapping in the wind and she doesn't hear what Bill and Ben are saying. When that happens, Bill and Ben think that Flo is too stuck up!

Very respectfully, Bill and Ben talk to Old Gormless who is very, very old and lives in the middle of the square.

Old Gormless doesn't say very much, but he loves to listen to Bill and Ben chattering away.

Most of all, the flowers love to listen to Bill and Ben.

In the morning, they listen to Bill and Ben gently wake them up when the sun rises.

At night, Bill and Ben sing softly to the flowers as they go to sleep.

All during the day, they listen as Bill and Ben chat to them about anything and everything.

As we all know, flowers grow best when someone talks to them. And that's the secret of why Barnoldswick's flowers grow very, very well!

So next time you call to see Bill and Ben on Barnoldswick Town Square, sit very, very quietly and listen very, very hard.

If you are very, very lucky you may just be able to hear Bill and Ben talking to their flowers.

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Barnoldswick blossoms in spring with trees in parks and open spaces bursting into bloom.

Cherry and other trees make a colourful contribution to the town amongst terraced streets and industrial areas, as well as Barnoldswick's greener spaces.

The main picture shows the avenue of trees planted on land between Bank Street and Valley Road to commemorate the millennium.

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When the Act of Parliament was passed to allow the construction of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal through Barnoldswick and into Lancashire, it included a requirement for the canal to be bridged with permanent structures where its course cut across highways and byways, rather than the swing bridges used along much of the canal's length.

The bridges constructed were hump backed with a masonry arch spanning the waterway and the canal towpath.

Some of the original bridges remain and several can be seen on the canal as it passes through the Barnoldswick area.

Bridge 158 is a bridge which has been rebuilt with a concrete arch.more

The bridge is just to the north of Greenberfield Locks and carries the towpath from one side of the canal to the other.

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The Centenary Gardens on Fernlea Avenue were developed in 1990 to commemorate 100 years of local government in the town.

Positioned next to a busy road and pedestrian route in the town centre, the gardens are often overlooked by busy passersby, but contain intriguing features for avid Barnoldswick explorers.

The gardens were the idea of Dennis Cairns who was a member of Barnoldswick Town Council, the organisation that commisioned the work.

Stone paved, with stone walls enclosing planting areas, the gardens are constructed with Barnoldswick's traditional building material.more

Several stone reliefs were built into niches in the walls of the gardens. The carvings refer to Barnoldswick's historical characters and key events in the town's history.

Famous local sculptor Fiona Bowley designed and carved the reliefs. Fiona's career as an artist has taken off in the years since she did the carvings for Barnoldswick. She has gained international recognition and is famous for her carvings of sheep. There is space to add additional carvings, if anyone would like to sponsor a new one!

The benches in the gardens have a fine view along Albert Road to the Town Square.

Barnoldswick in Bloom volunteers adopted parts of the gardens last year, planting out summer bedding and daffodil bulbs.

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The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through tranquil countryside north of Barnoldswick as it meanders around the drumlin field.

Big skies can dominate the landscape and the canal is sometimes full of clouds.

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Cockshott Bridge is a surviving original bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal's summit section.

The bridge carries the footpath which runs from Kelbrook Road to Salterforth Lane. The bridge is on the route of the Pennine Bridleway. Interesting blocks of recycled stone are positioned at each side of the bridge to allow horseriders to dismount as they cross over the bridge.

After crossing over the bridge, walking towards Salterforth Lane takes you up 'Bob Preston' (or at least close by following a recent diversion of the route). Lower Park Marina extends alongside the canal at either side of the bridge.more

There's boat building activity immediately next to the bridge and a canal shop. Tow path users can use the bridge to get to the shop where they can buy refreshments. Alongside the bridge you can see a water main which carries water from Elslack Reservoir and Yorkshire Water's grid into Barnoldswick.

Looking towards Salterforth from Cockshott Bridge, you can clearly see the surviving abutment of the former railway bridge which carried the Barnoldswick branch line into the town from the junction at Kelbrook.