May day Monday, myself and my husband Barry were at a loose end and wanted to get out the house for a while.  Hicks Lodge, near Ashby and Donisthorpe had been recommended by my lovely friend Sarah.  With it being local practically on our doorstep we set off. There no chance of getting stuck in any Bank Holiday traffic.  It was fairly busy once we arrived though.  Great place to take children with a lovely cafe selling beautiful ice creams.    I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised as it was nothing like we had expected, just goes to show what mankind can make out of old disused quarry/mining land.  If you’ve got a bike it’s dedicated cycle tracks are perfect and talking of bikes, they hire them out to members of the public if you don’t have your own.   Armed with just our cameras we just walked around.  All the photos below were taken with my Sony RX10, a bridge camera I occasionally take out with me instead of lugging around my usual heavy duty DSLR and lenses.