Pithouse West - Rotherham

A hidden gem lying to the east of Rother Valley Country Park. A former opencast mine it has been returned to it’s former state and is now home to many species of flora and fauna. It offers an oasis of calm and tranquility that is unmatched in the local area. Unfortunately the local council have given outline planning permission to build a Chinese Theme Park. Yes you read that right - a Chinese Theme Park - in Yorkshire - in a former pit village! This would be environmental vandalism of the highest order. 

Rother Valley had over a hundred years of heavy industry and heavy pollution, industries that created real jobs and communities around them. What’s there now is a legacy of those industries. Actually it’s not a legacy it’s a thank you, a thank you for those years that we took from the land. To put it back to what it is today is an achievement - to take that away would be a bloody disgrace. (via Of Pies and Birds - see link below)

Chinese Theme Park Threatens Pithouse West

The majestic Howden Dam in the English Peak District. The western half of the dam wall is in Derbyshire whilst the eastern half is in Sheffield. The boundary being the course of the original River Derwent as it runs through the middle of Howden reservoir.