A bit wet
Stopped here for two nights in mid-Oct on the way to the Lakes - £15 per night. There had been and was a great deal of rain so not the best time to visit. The Lodge Caravan Site as it is called comprises two areas. The first is the CL which is enclosed with trees. Each of its 5 marked pitches look inwards and towards an old pump house that has been converted into a well appointed shower toilet block. There is some hard standing and a track running through the CL into a much larger open area of gently sloping cut grass. Here the pitches are unmarked with no hard standing. They appear to be for seasonal use and have fine views of the surrounding countryside and an attractive fishing pond. Both areas are shown in the online description of the CL and have EHUs and a fresh water point. Due to the rain the track running through the CL was muddy and the larger grassed area was too slippery for vehicular use. We didn’t have good TV reception from our omnidirectional aerial. The CL and an adjoining nature reserve are on the site of the Minnie Colliery where 156 men and boys perished following an underground explosion in 1918. More detail on this and the area’s industrial past can be found on line. With only a day to explore we didn’t cover much. The village of Audley can be reached on foot in about 20 minutes where there is an assortment of small shops including two supermarkets. There are footpaths, a disused RW line and the adjoining nature reserve to explore which includes a lake. The area was quiet bar the distant hum of traffic from the M6 which is only a couple of miles away but out of sight.
