Wild Goose Chase

In the quest to find new venues, both for club matches, and to wile away our pensioner years, John Heald and I ventured out on a thoroughly wet and miserable morning. The rumour was that Harthill had dug and opened a new match pool, so we met at Broxton roundabout for 9am, and following a bacon toastie and welcome mug of tea, we made our way to the fishery.
Fortunately for us, the owner arrived just as we pulled into the car park. A brief chat ensued and it  transpired that there were no fish in the new lake yet! Apparently it will be up and running around the end of May. He's moving all the fish from the bottom lake(s) as nobody fishes down there, and specimens will go in the main lake, while the remainder are going into the new match lake.
Anyway, we decided to give the big lake a miss as the wind was howling, and we didn't fancy the walk. Where now? Milton Green, Cheshire, Hampton?
"How about Whitchurch?", asked John, "There's a place called Pool Lodge on the outskirts". I readily agreed, and we set off. Twenty minutes later we were on the other side of Whitchurch, and John pulls into a layby ( no comments about doggin thank you!). He said the directions he has mention the A425, but we could only find the A525. Even if this is the right road, which way do we turn, left or right? We carry straight on for another few miles!
Once again we pulled over, and at that moment, my senility took a break, and my brain started working. I recalled being given directions to a 'big carp' lake about a year ago, and the directions were in my glove box.
I suggested to John that we had two options, Villa farm, which I vaguely knew was in the area, or this carp lake. The directions had a post code, so out of HIS glove box came the SatNav. Off we went again, up hill, down dale, along all sorts of small country lanes, and eventually we passed a sign for 'fishing'. We came to an abrupt halt, and following a brief discussion, decided F88k it, right place or wrong, we'd give it a go.
There was a burger van outside the gates, and they informed us that we should pick a peg and start fishing, the owner would come round and collect his £4 some time later. It was ten to Eleven! Information was that the big lake had carp to thirty, some nice tench, and crucians over 3lbs. Another smaller pool had, amongst other things, some reasonable sized cats. A third pool looked like a match-type water, with an island in the middle, so we picked two pegs and settled in.
I started to catch small skimmers, cruies and gudgeon from the off, while John sat it out on banded pellet. He was eventually rewarded with a few nice tench and a barbel, then he caught several small carp. I caught a bonus bream of 2.5 lbs, and a few tench. When the owner came round he said we could use keepnets (bit late, but good to know for next time?). He said the carp went to 10lb, tench 4lb and some nice barbel.
All in all it was a very pleasant day's fishing, although probably not one you'd go to every week due to the distance (about 40 miles). The added bonus of keepnets is good.
For anybody interested, it's called Marchamley Pools. Just the other side of Whitchurch, on the A41 to Wolverhampton, there's a right turn to Marchamley and Hodnet. Along that road for about 5 miles, and fishery is on the right. Watch out for the burger van.