Apedale Community Country Park
Country park in Staffordshire, England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apedale Community Country Park is a 454-acre (184 ha)[1] country park in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England.[2] The park is unusual for the area as it was previously an opencast mine.
The area has a long history of mining, with the nearby former collieries at Silverdale and Holditch also having been redeveloped for other uses.
The shallow mine at Holditch was redeveloped into a business park and an industrial estate, which led to significant capital gains for Staffordshire County Council. The amelioration of the park was part paid for out of these receipts.[citation needed]
Within the park is the Apedale Heritage Centre. The adjoining Moseley Railway Trust[3] is currently running the first phase of the 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway extending further into the parkland. There is a series of tracks, waymarked routes and self-guided trails.
The country park is also the home of Newcastle Countryside Project[4] and is bordered by the communities of Silverdale, Chesterton, Knutton and Cross Heath.