Parkgate Leisure, Penkridge - Vanlife Parkup Review
An unexpected taste of paradise along the M6. Here's how we spent 24 hours in a place we'd never heard of, during a breakdown and on the way to a family get-together.
We found ourselves in an unforeseen circumstance due to the van wheels almost falling off (again), and ended up dropping off the M5 to stay in Worcester while we got the RAC out to take a look, and for us to organise our next steps. Long story short, we need four new wheels for the van but they aren't available until a week's time and we have other plans elsewhere in between. Therefore, we thought it'd be wise to make shorter journeys and stop in some new places along the way. This is how we came to find Parkgate Leisure, located just outside of a small town called Penkridge, which is just North of Birmingham.
We chose to pay for a spot with electric hookup so we could get everything charged back up to 100%, I could test out my new sander on the table, and Tora could use their much-loved cusimax electric hob to cook for us. The spot was £14 including electricity, but best of all, we were backed perfectly onto a lock with a pristine view of the canal where narrow boats were frequently passing. We loved engaging with the people on the boats as they navigated the lock, and they were excited to step off and have a look in our campervan. We even met one woman from Morpeth - and for anyone who doesn't know the geography of Northern England, Morpeth is around 8 miles from where I grew up in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, and where we were parked that night, is over 200 miles from there! It really is a small world.
The staff/owners were absolutely lovely and so helpful. At Parkgate Leisure, there's a huge shop on-site, where you can buy all sorts of equipment for your campervans, caravans, narrowboats, etc. and the guy who helped us, even emptied our loo for us because his rottweiler was in the way (I'd usually be grossed out and mortified by something like this, but as it's a job I absolutely hate doing, I was happy for a volunteer to take it on).
In terms of amenities, there was a drinking water tap for us to fill our bottles up with, a grey water emptying point, the black water (loo) emptying point as previously mentioned, and optional EHU (electric hookup). I believe it's only £10 to stay without EHU.
There are two spots for EHU campers, and a few more for people who don't need EHU - however, these are further away from the canal, so you miss out on that view we were lucky enough to have.
There are no qualms about fires or BBQs either. There was a box outside the shop that was full of cardboard/paper free for people to take and use to start fires, and we had a BBQ without any hassle (I did ask if it was ok beforehand, and they said it was fine).
As well as the manmade amenities, this is the perfect spot for nature-lovers. There was an abundance of birds including swallows that were nesting in a nearby roof, a heron fishing for its dinner, and a few other rogue birds here and there. The sun sets beautifully over the canal and shone into our van well into the evening. It was honestly just so tranquil sitting in our van with the back doors swung open, watching the passers-by and seeing the gorgeous sky changing before our eyes as the sun went down, the clouds shifted and the sky changed colour.
All in all, it was a beautifully relaxed day and night, we slept soundly and met a fellow Vanlifer called Rick who popped his head around for a chat every now and again. Well worth the £14.