Musbury Tor is a modest moorland summit on the western fringe of Helmshore, rising above the Musbury Valley to give open views across the Rossendale hills. The walk up from the village takes around 40 minutes on good paths, passing through the Alden Valley — a quiet glaciated cleft on the edge of the West Pennine Moors.
The moorland up here is bleak in the best Lancashire sense: heather, gritstone outcrops, and skies that can change quickly from bright to dramatic. On a clear day you can see across to the higher summits of the Pennines to the east and down the Irwell Valley toward Manchester to the south. It makes a good extension to a museum visit and gives some context to the landscape that produced the cotton industry.