Colne is a Lancashire town adjoining Nelson and not far from Burnley in the so-called "Aire Gap" - a break in the Pennine hills connecting Keighley and Skipton in the Aire Valley with Burnley and the Lancashire plains to the west.

To the south and east of Colne are the Bronte Country moors beloved of the famous Bronte sisters, and immediately to the north west rises the looming dark mass of Pendle Hill - the sinister heart of Pendle Witch Country.