The following article is a selection of excerpts from the Pendle Heritgae Centre's blog - written by Frank Walsh, Tourist Information staff member at the centre. It has been published here with their kind permission.

Travelling in a period of the wettest weather for some time our gallant band arrived at Coniston Lodge to be greeted by Tracey the marketing manager who made us all welcome and ordered tea all round.

Following our brew we were transported by landrover to the Falconry Centre which sat in country side quite some distance from the Lodge.

I was somewhat taken back when most of the party opted for seeing a bird hunting for rabbit with the help of a Ferret. I personally would have just been happy seeing the birds in flight.

After donning what Wellington boots were available we set off across a waterlogged field. I was amused at seeing my normally well turned out workmates looking wet and bedraggled. At one point I had to use both my hands to pull my Wellington booted foot from the deep mud, all the while the insistent rain continued to drench us.

In the meantime our bird of pray was somewhere in a tree. I bet she was getting fed up of the rain. Our very knowledgeable guide had explained that once the feathers get wet the bird has to use up a lot more energy to fly.

Although disappointed that we had not seen the bird in action I was not all that disappointed when the ferret was returned to its box and we retraced our waterlogged steps back to the centre.

Peter, Angela and I wanted to see an Eagle in flight. We were not disappointed both Peter and I experienced having a fully grown Eagle fly to our heavily gloved hands, again due to the rain soaking the birds feathers I could only just support the birds weight on my fully extended arm.

This was the best bit I know the memory of the Eagle will stay with me a long time.

Team bonding is an often quoted expression but the day to me was bordering on just that.

We all enjoyed our familisation visit to Coniston Lodge.