Author: Alex Mason

  • Holymoorside Off Road – Pay & Play Private Venue

    Holymoorside Off Road is a bit different to other off road venues, as its not really open to the public like most – its owned by someone that lets a couple of Off Road Clubs use it at certain points throughout the year.

    I managed to go thanks to a friend who put my name down on the list to go with TPORE – a local off road club, and I went in February of 2016. Its a great off road venue, although it’s not the largest – really good for a day or just an afternoon of mudding 🙂

    The site is located in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and consists of a nice variety of challenges, including some pretty difficult hills and the MUD is SO STICKY – its actually infamous for it!

    Quite a few of my friends love the place, but then many hate it – its definitely a Marmite venue! I personally had a great time and would go back again in a heartbeat. It helps that this is REALLY close to where i’m from, so its a nice short drive there and back which is always a good thing when off roading – especially if something breaks!

    As stated – this is not a free-for-all Pay and Play venue, so I cannot publish any event info on the Off Road Events Calendar i’m afraid. For Holymoorside Off Road it is better to check the TPORE forums and if you are local to chesterfield/derbyshire, just ask some local off road enthusiasts if you see any and they may be able to advise on the best way to get yourself entry to the venue.

    If anyone linked to the venue would like to add more info or send me contact details for the venue owners then please comment below or contact me using the contact page.

    I look forward to visiting again, soon!

  • Silverdale Off Road Pay and Play Venue

    I am always on the hunt for new off road/pay and play venues to add to this site – and I asked some friends if they knew of any that I had not already added. One of the guys mentioned Silverdale which is part of the Explore Off Road centre, so I did some digging and found their website and event info.

    “As well as our Off-Road site we also have a pay and play site located in Silverdale, Keele. For just £25 you can tackle the extreme terrain alone for a full day. The site contains woodlands, steep hills, water, and lots of mud; it’s not recommended for shiny new vehicles and is definitely not for the faint hearted! (Road taxed vehicles only.)”

    On Google maps, it seems like the site is HUGE;

    I may have the map of Silverdale wrong – but there are tracks all over the area i’ve circled!
    The exact address of the site is;

    Haying Wood
    off Pepper Street
    Silverdale
    Stoke-on-Trent
    ST5 6QQ

    And prices for pay and play days are £25 per vehicle. Sounds like a bargain – can’t wait to visit!

    Their events have been added to the Off Road Events Calendar (there are not many) and I will contact the site to find out if they have planned out P&P days for december and next year, and will ensure they are added to the calendar too.

    Have you ever been? Would love to see your images and videos!

  • Awesome new Off Road Events Calendar

    OK, so ive been mulling over how I was going to do my Off Road Events Calendar – there are loads of website add ons to make this site into a calendar – but I couldn’t help but think it would be a static, stand-alone site and unless you checked it, you wouldn’t know about any of the events I was listing.

    SO, as I live the rest of my life by what Google Calendar says (use it at work, and personally) I figured having a public calendar that lists all the events was the right thing to do. It can be synced with mobile phones and also your calendar within Gmail and i’m sure it can be synced with iPhones too but I have no idea how to do that.

    If you are a venue owner and would like you events listing on the calendar then please get in touch. Additionally, if I do list your events and there are issues please also contact me.

    Hope you enjoy, peeps!

    UK Off Road Event Calendar

  • Frickley 4×4 Off Road Events – September to December 2016

    Wow that last month flew by! I didnt get time to visit any pay-and-play days last month but the #warhorse is back on it and raring to go. Perhaps i’ll pop to Frickley again on one of the dates below! If you go, please send some snags for our catalogue!

    18th September 2016
    2nd October 2016
    16th October 2016
    30th October 2016
    13th November 2016
    27th November 2016
    11th December 2016 (last one for 2016)

    To book yourself on one of the days or for more information about Frickley, please visit their website.

    http://www.frickley4x4.co.uk/html/contact-us.php

  • Off Road Events – Frickley Offroad Centre – August 2016

    There is only one more event at Frickley this month, so if this is your favourite spot and you want to go while the sun is out then be sure to get yourself along.

    21st August 2016

    For more dates and info visit their Diary.

    I enjoyed my last visit to Frickley – its a decent site although we went just before they reshaped some of the landscape so it should be an interesting experience next time 🙂

  • Kirton Off Road Centre Promo Vid

    Love this video – heheh 🙂

  • Off Road Events in August 2016 @ KORC

    One of the reasons I set this website up, was because I was sick and tired of hunting down info ariton for off road events. For example the Kirton Off Road Club website says no up and coming events, yet (one of) their official Facebook groups states they have events;

    • 13th August… CENTRE CLOSED (PRIVATE EVENT)
    • 14th August –  Extra Pay n Play Day for all.
    • 20th & 21st August – Extra Pay n Play weekend for all
    • 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August – 4×4 Bank Holiday Weekend

    For more information, visit the KORC Facebook group as that seems to be the most active info outlet they have.

    Im going to try and get to one this month so that I can take a drone and get some epic footage – plus I get to play in the mud in the old #warhorse too!

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/kirtonoffroadcentre

  • YouTube Channel Review: OFF-ROAD TÜRKİYE

    OK, so these guys make some super cool videos. I initially found them as they own a few AMAZING Land Rover Discoverys, and I stumbled upon them when searching out videos for inspiration for the warhorse.

    To be honest, a lot of their videos are slow going, they get stuck a lot but then they do drive through some seriously chewed up bits of dirt!

    I would love to travel to Turkey one day )if that’s where much of this is filmed) as it looks like a lot of fun! 

    I Reached out the the channel, as I would like to interview them and ask them a few questions about their channel but no reply yet. They’re probably still digging themselves out the mud!

    If you would like to see their full range of videos and perhaps subscribe to their channel, you can do that by going here.

  • Frickley Off Road – Pay & Play 7th August 2016

    Frickley 4×4 Offroad Centre was established in April 2005 as part of a diversification project. The site on a reclaimed slag heap and covers approximately 75 acres which consists of woodland, various depths of water, rock crawl, uphill rock climb section, earth mover tyre section and covers all degrees of severity to accommodate the extreme modified vehicle and driver as well as regular road legal vehicles and drivers.

    They are hosting one of their Pay & Play days on the 7th of August 2016.

    Site opening times 10am to 4pm.
    Pay & play entrance is £25 per vehicle.
    All makes of legal and non road legal welcome (sorry, no motorbike or quadbikes are allowed on this site)

    No advanced tickets are available, so turn up early to guarantee entry.

    Contact details here: http://www.frickley4x4.co.uk/html/contact-us.php

  • GLASS – Green Lane Association – Feature

    It happens to us all, well, those of us who buy a 4×4 vehicle and realise how much fun they are to drive. We all start off as simple owners but before you can say “waffle boards” you are looking at mods for your truck to squeeze more potential out of them, but you also start looking at legitimate organisations that can help make your off roading experience even better.

    There are a couple of organisations in the UK, the one we’re looking at today is GLASS.

    On their website, they state that;

    “GLASS is the National User Group for those who enjoy using the Country’s network of ancient unsurfaced public roads and vehicular rights of way. We are a not for profit association dedicated to driving, protecting and researching our unique heritage of unsurfaced public highways. We promote legal and responsible driving as a way of enjoying the countryside, campaign against irresponsible use and aim to keep them open for all to use.”

    The GLASS story started in 1995 and since then GLASS have evolved to become a responsible organisation that help keep the green lanes of the uk, Green!

    GLASS operates a paid membership platform, and they offer members access to regular news and updates via bulletins and their bi-annual magazine, and additionally offer access to their impressive online database of green lanes in the UK.

    They often exhibit at shows, looking to recruit new members to help them grow the organisation – they do not host their own off road events as Green Laning itself is better carried out in small groups due to the narrow lanes available and also so as to not disturb the natural surroundings too much