Lovely new wildlife reserve right next to J31 on M6 (Preston) - good rest stop!

[Ponders]

\link{http://www.brockholes.org/visit\Brockholes} - has pushchair-accessible walking trails. Much nicer than services!

Admission is free, parking £1 for 1 hour, £2 1-2 hours.

No dogs allowed though

Thanks for the reminder, I saw this on Countryfile (or similar) a few weeks ago, looks lovely. We usually break our journey to Scotland in summer at Charnock Richard services, this looks much more enticing!

Funnily enough it was Charnock Richard I was thinking of when I said nicer than services, WhoKnows

We're Lancs Wildlife Trust members & I was reading the magazine earlier, which made me think of putting it on here (it has a big feature about Brockholes - it only opened at Easter. It isn't completely finished yet but is improving all the time)

How far from the motorway is it? We tend not to stop for too long at the services because we still have a long way to go (and because they're grim!) so wouldn't want to go too far off the motorway. When I was younger I spent some happy times as a conservation volunteer in that area, and now we just whizz past, would be nice to actually see some of it again.

Oh, just read your title, right next to the M6 (silly me)!

We are planning on visiting here this summer. it's not too far from us (St Annes). Just waiting for it to stop bloody raining.
Thanks for the link

Well, we went, it was a lovely sunny day and we really liked it, only stopped for an hour as we were travelling, so much more relaxing thanthe service area, the DCs enjoyed the play area and we all enjoyed the cafe with ducks swimming past the window, thanks for the tip.

That looks interesting. The only thing that would put me off is the number of birds. I know that they are the main attraction, but I am terrified.
Great idea to offer somthing like that though.

We didn't see many birds as we only went to the visitor centre and play area, just a few ducks. Lots of butterflies though.

We went in the Spring and it was lovely - great play area and the restaurant was lovely. Not too many birds hanging around - its not like a wildlife reserve where they stroll around, but tend to be in the trees and bushes around and on the lake. Restaurant is lovely too! Worth a visit.