A series of twelve geocaches sited around the Poulter Country Park, with the approval of Derbyshire Countryside Service.
Following the series in numerical order will take you on a circuit of this lovely country park, bringing you back to within reach of the South Car Park. You could catch a train to Langwith / Whaley Thorns and then start at number 3.
The first eleven are traditional caches of various sizes, but the twelfth is a Mystery Cache. A map is given to help make the route easy, but obviously the position of number 12 is not as shown! Hopefully all the caches will be reasonably easy to spot, but the park is quite popular so I've tried to keep all caches fairly well hidden. Although I've tried to design all log sheets so they can be extracted without tweezers it could be worth bringing a pair anyway. Note that most caches contain pencils but a couple don't have room; so make sure you have a pen with you.
The full route is about three miles in length, and should take about two hours. Although you can choose to find the caches in any order, following the numbers is recommended as it will avoid any backtracking. There are no roads to cross, and you'll be able to bring along as many kids and dogs as you like. Buggies might be feasible in very dry conditions, but I haven't tested this! There are some soaking wet and muddy sections if the weather has been at all damp, plus quite a few small hills, making walking boots or wellies highly recommended. But there are paths all the way and no dangerous areas. You don't need to bushwhack through trees. The main path from 1 to 6 has been improved drastically this year (2014) and provides an excellent surface for hikes or bikes.
To find the correct coordinates for PCP12 you'll need to take note of the letters inside the lids of the caches in the series. Most of the caches have a single letter inscribed, and you must note which cache has which letter.
This will give you numbers to help complete the following:
N 53°13.CAE,W 001°13.RSM.
CAE and RSM are letters from the cache lids. To convert them to numbers, simply use the number of the cache you found them in. For instance, if "C" was in "PCP04" then C=4. Count PCP10 as zero, and ignore PCP11 altogether.
This first cache in the series is close to the parking area, and is a small micro.
About the Poulter Country Park
The park has been reclaimed by Derbyshire County Council from the Langwith Colliery pit tip.
Langwith Colliery was open from 1876 to 1978. At its busiest 1300 men worked here. In peak years they produced 850,000 tons of coal from seams 1600 feet deep. The mine was nationalised in 1947, along with all British pits.
In World War I there was a munitions factory on the site, making chemicals for sea mines to protect British shipping from U-Boats. Around 800 people worked here, mostly girls from local villages. This was dangerous work and six people were killed by explosions..
On a wet Saturday night during World War II, a Canadian Bristol Beaufighter plane crashed just west of the pit tip. People coming out of the cinema saw the crash. Sadly, both crewmen died.
The park contains woodlands, meadows and ponds; the different habitats attract a variety of flora and fauna. Look out for green woodpeckers, turtle doves, skylarks and buzzards. Mammals in the park include brown hares, stoats and weasels. In spring you'll see cowslips, and later wild strawberries and bee orchids. The dragonfly sculpture in the pond near the South car park was made by local artist Phil Neal.
There is a small Heritage Centre near number 3 (against the railway station, at N 53° 13.933 W 1° 12.448, open Wednesdays and Sundays 10:00am - 3:00pm) with more information about the area.