Geograph - photograph every grid square

Pit House West is situated next to Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire. The area was home to the massive spoil heaps left by the former Brookhouse Colliery nearby, which closed in 1985. Between 1989 and 1994, opencast mining took place on a massive scale, extracting one and a half million tonnes of coal. When the coaling was complete a further 12 months were spent landscaping the site. Today, Pit House West has been extensively planted with half the area covered in trees. Much of the surrounding land can be used for grazing, and the area is currently being managed for recreation, environmental education and wildlife conservation. As well as the woodland itself the area contains a watercourse, the Pigeon Bridge Brook, which for many years had existed in an underground culvert. This has been restored to its natural form as an open stream that flows through the site, feeding a series of ponds and wetlands, attracting more wildlife.