What's your favourite service station?

[OpenSandwich]

Mine would be Annandale Water, on the M74 near Lockerbie. A lovely spot.

Cobham - Yes, see above
It is clean
and the grass has grown on the verges now
and there are new shopping outlets.
Although, when I was last there the fountains weren't working.
I will post updates.

Quite tempted to put up a map of UK with pins for MN-recommended services. For easy reference.

I like Membury on the M4 and the one on the way to Margate (forget the name) with the bridge that crosses over the top!

The only reason Cobham seems so nice is because its a relief from the car park hell that is the M25!

I like the M1 for the sheer number of services, it's a joy. The ones with the covered bridge over the top are my favourite because they take me back to my childhood. The reality is always a disappointment though because they stink.

I do love service stations, even the shitty ones. We only ever used to stop for a wee as children so I love that as an adult I can stop and eat crap food.

Tebay gets my vote. Alternatively - the Green Welly Stop at Crianlarich. It's not a motorway obviously but it does a fabulous bowl of cullen skink and sticky toffee pudding to die for!

I don't have a favourite (strangely tempted to go to Tebay now) But I flipping hate Gordano on the M5 near Bristol.

I have a soft spot for Oxford although I'm sure not many people would agree!

I've never been to one I've liked. The one's I've frequented are all, without exception, dirty and over priced. And WTF is it with the hand dryers??? The volume is crazy, enough to almost perforate a bloody eardrum

Shakey it seems you might need a trip to Tebay!

Annandale Water lost my vote recently when we arrived at 1pm and they had no hot food left at all. None.

On our yearly trips to Scotland from Portsmouth our faves are the one on the Birmingham Toll Road and Tebay.

Gordano is awful. Got stuck in there last summer!

I was just going to say Annandale its lovely and tebay for the -poncey-- farm shop we love s mooch

Oooh I love Tebay, it's always our second stop on our way to see relatives in Scotland.

Gordano is very near me so I've only been once recently, but they have opened a drive thru Starbucks away from the minging main bit.

Tebay is great and means that I am almost "home" after a long journey from where I actually now live. My DF likes to go there for special occasions, such as his birthday meal. He does have strange ideas about what constitutes fun - as our family day trip to Newcastle airport before it became an international proves.

I used to work at Southwaite as a student, but haven't been back since.

Beaconsfield is my personal favourite now.

cecy I like Oxford too!

Tebay / Westmoreland is a cut above the rest though.

Another fan of South Mimms here! Also Cherwell Valley, Oxford its a halfway marker on our long journeys between East mids and South Coast.

When we are heading south we aim for tebay but if we are not in a huge rush we do stop at Anandale for a coffee, we stop at one just after Birmingham but can't remember what its called its quite nice has a waitrose in it

Killington Lake on M6! Fantastic views, rocks to climb on. You can walk/trespass down to the lake. Southbound only, but we like it so much we actually use it northbound too....crossing over the motorway and driving two minutes down the other side. And then using the sneaky services route back to the northbound carriageway.

Tebay.

.

Kids used to call it Teabag thanks to my dopey H and it was the only one they had ever been to until we went to some random one near Darlington when they were about 6. They just wandered around looking shocked and saying: 'we want teabag'!

Dh always wanted to stop on the one with the tower so we stopped on our way home from weymouth you couldn't go up the tower bit and it was a dump. I watched a thing about service stations in the 60s and 70s apparently folk used to go there for dinner as a night out

Thing is, it's clearly possible to have a nice service station

ducks do help

So why are so many of them so dismal?

Woodal needs bulldozing...gross place

I stopped at Fleet for the first time a month or so ago and was surprised how nice the outside area was

that makes them sound a bit precious and they are not at all but they really DID think all services were clean and lovely with big farm shops, lakes and ducks....