A cautionary tale
When visiting the wood, I always park at the entrance near the Crem—just off the Wellesbourne Road at the entrance of a side road (map square E1 (NGR: SP301593)). I’ve seen some poor parking here over the years, but when I returned to my car today, I saw an example that took the biscuit…
A car had been left in the lane, completely blocking it. As I looked disbelievingly at it, a farmer came down the lane—fortunately in a 4×4 so able to get around it by driving into the ditch. Not so lucky a lady in a car who arrived from the other direction and was basically stuck. And then a second. The farmer was understandably less than impressed (this is an understatement) and I felt somewhat in the firing line as he unloaded his general unhappiness at some of the parking he has to deal with. I of course sympathised with him.
I left before knowing the outcome of this.
I’ve frequently cringed at some of the parking I’ve seen. Not just from the point of view of the users of the lane (there are farms and houses at its end) and the inconvenience they sometimes have to put up with. Inconsiderate parking reflects on all of us who use the wood, and I don’t like to think that these residents see us as a nuisance.
And from the car owner’s point of view it’s important to appreciate the size of some of the farm vehicles and lorries that use the lane—they are big! Tractors pulling trailers can take pretty much the whole width of the lane. Combine harvesters take even more. The farmer told me that the police have confirmed that they (the farmers) would not be held responsible if they were to damage a car that was causing problems with their access to the lane. So be warned! It’s in everyone’s best interest to park considerately.
Well said Chris
how I agree with you, where are peoples brains? I would like to add that I park most days at the new car park near the lodge at Ashorne Hill entrance where you park along side each other getting three cars at least off the road, but would you believe people drive in length wise and take up all three places which means we are back to square one and have to park on the road.
An interesting article because for many years I lived at Oakleywood Farm and worked at Wellesbourne and thus drove past the place in question thousands of times. Oakleywood itself is a very popular place to visit, and because parking is at a premium there are always going to be problems with parking. I would never ever want to deter anyone from visiting the countryside, but sometimes you have to be a little mindful.
Geoff Wall-Davis, Birmingham.