Leigh sand pit

This is a working sand pit producing the archetypal bright red Cheshire sand.

The easiest way to get into the site is on the south side, there is no fencing here, just a mound of earth from when the topsoil was cleared.  I've not had a full session in there but have had a wander around, found a few areas of soft dark red mud of at least ankle depth (I didn't try going in any deeper) plus a large pond in one corner. The water in the pond is quite dirty so not that good for cleaning up, however there is a brook across the fields to the south of the site.

To get to the site you'll need to drive west along the A580 and pull into the side road just after crossing the canal bridge. When facing the gates to the pit you'll see another gate off to the right, this is a track which follows the edge of the pit round to the south side, where you can get in.

05.07.11 - 2 years ago this was a great site, the sump area used to be fully drained of water so it was a sea of waist deep mud. Unfortunately there seems to have been a change in management policy and they always leave at least 12 inches of water covering the mud (been that way since Spring 2010). Whether this is to benefit the wildlife (that's flourishing)  or to keep mudders away, I'm not sure...  Was there last night and only found one area of exposed mud that went anywhere near the tops of my riggz :-(  wouldn't go anywhere near overtopping your wellies.