shoughton Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 A good shooting pal of mine twisted my arm (didn't need much) into a trip upto Highlodge last weekend. My Sat Nav showed it as just under 2 hours away and we planned to meet at 08:30 at Highlodge. I got there much quicker than that as all of the roads were empty and the route is fairly good. I got there at about 08:00 so enjoyed a quick Olympic breakfast at the very close Little Chef (few hundred yards away). My mate turned up 08:30 on the dot and then informed me we would start off with breakfast in the restaurant as shooting didn't start until 10 anyway. So I watched him eat a bloody lovely breakfast compared to the plastic one I ate nextdoor. Grrrrrrr! Anyway - on to the important bit. The whole setup at Highlodge is fantastic - there are a huge number of targets of all types. Everything you've ever seen in any book or magazine - all set in beautiful woodland. Every single kind of trap I could think of. We experienced very, very few no birds (and we had 350 targets between us) - I think it was about 5 and they were all rabbits. I also had a go at skeet shooting - bloody fast but really good fun. Initially I thought I'd be grateful to hit any targets - but I did much better than I thought. All the other guys shooting are friendly and there is a great atmosphere. Great shop too - they sell everything from guns & cartridges through to all the usual clothing, slips etc. A little pricey but all top quality items. When we stopped for a coffee we bumped into the man himself who had just enjoyed a mid morning breakfast. My shooting pal knows John Bidwell so it was good to be introduced. He is a great guy - very friendly and down to earth, also enjoying fishing as much as his shooting. I finished off with a pint of good ale sitting out overlooking the golf green reflecting on what had been a great day. I will be back! I can highly recommend a visit to Highlodge to anybody - new or experienced, there's plenty for everybody. Good for a couple of hours or a whole day if you're travelling further. I did hear that John Bidwell even runs a few lodges, so I think B&B is available too. Probably the best day's clay shooting for me ever - I learned more there than anywhere else. Enjoy! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windy Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 is my local ground.....see JB there most times. Have had a couple of lessons there, some top instructors (but there is one I wasnt convinced by though!) all in all I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoughton Posted August 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 is my local ground.....see JB there most times.Have had a couple of lessons there, some top instructors (but there is one I wasnt convinced by though!) all in all I like it. Wasn't a white haired guy with glasses was he? I saw one of the instructors on the skeet and he was missing everything much to everybodys amusement Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicky T Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Got to admit that High Lodge is one of the nicest shooting grounds i've been too; closely followed by Shugborough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter De La Mare Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Aye, I'd go along with that. I rate it very highly indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulos Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Except West Midlands Shooting Ground - that is super duper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne9 Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Im a member at High Lodge, Im up there most Wednesdays, great place to shoot, close to home and the targets are different EVERY time I go! We should have a Suffolk PW members shoot some time ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight32 Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) A good shooting pal of mine twisted my arm (didn't need much) into a trip upto Highlodge last weekend. My Sat Nav showed it as just under 2 hours away and we planned to meet at 08:30 at Highlodge. I got there much quicker than that as all of the roads were empty and the route is fairly good. I got there at about 08:00 so enjoyed a quick Olympic breakfast at the very close Little Chef (few hundred yards away). My mate turned up 08:30 on the dot and then informed me we would start off with breakfast in the restaurant as shooting didn't start until 10 anyway. So I watched him eat a bloody lovely breakfast compared to the plastic one I ate nextdoor. Grrrrrrr! Anyway - on to the important bit. The whole setup at Highlodge is fantastic - there are a huge number of targets of all types. Everything you've ever seen in any book or magazine - all set in beautiful woodland. Every single kind of trap I could think of. We experienced very, very few no birds (and we had 350 targets between us) - I think it was about 5 and they were all rabbits. I also had a go at skeet shooting - bloody fast but really good fun. Initially I thought I'd be grateful to hit any targets - but I did much better than I thought. All the other guys shooting are friendly and there is a great atmosphere. Great shop too - they sell everything from guns & cartridges through to all the usual clothing, slips etc. A little pricey but all top quality items. When we stopped for a coffee we bumped into the man himself who had just enjoyed a mid morning breakfast. My shooting pal knows John Bidwell so it was good to be introduced. He is a great guy - very friendly and down to earth, also enjoying fishing as much as his shooting. I finished off with a pint of good ale sitting out overlooking the golf green reflecting on what had been a great day. I will be back! I can highly recommend a visit to Highlodge to anybody - new or experienced, there's plenty for everybody. Good for a couple of hours or a whole day if you're travelling further. I did hear that John Bidwell even runs a few lodges, so I think B&B is available too. Probably the best day's clay shooting for me ever - I learned more there than anywhere else. Enjoy! Steve Beware the 'Little Thief' that sits near Highlodge-caught out many an unwitting hungry clay shooter. Mind you you think its bad going there- I lived just 400 yards from it for 9 years! Edited August 4, 2009 by starlight32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Except West Midlands Shooting Ground - that is super duper Yes, West Midlands SG, (AKA "Hodnet" to us Oldies) is a superb ground, probably the best Sporting ground in the country. I think Newnham Park would come a close second, but it's a heck of a trek for most. High Lodge is OK, John has worked very hard to develop the facilities there, it's a pity you have to shoot out of "bunkers" on some stands, some folks find that a bit of a turn off. John's previous "High Lodge" ground was at Henham Park, a bit further up the A12, he ran that up until the mid 90's, definitely a better ground than the one he now occupies. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight32 Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Yes, West Midlands SG, (AKA "Hodnet" to us Oldies) is a superb ground, probably the best Sporting ground in the country. I think Newnham Park would come a close second, but it's a heck of a trek for most. High Lodge is OK, John has worked very hard to develop the facilities there, it's a pity you have to shoot out of "bunkers" on some stands, some folks find that a bit of a turn off. John's previous "High Lodge" ground was at Henham Park, a bit further up the A12, he ran that up until the mid 90's, definitely a better ground than the one he now occupies. Cat. I worked at John's original ground at Henham in the late 80's before I left school, I totally agree it was better than the present one. The bunkers are a further planning requirement due to noise implications brought by the local planning authority arising from complaints. Makes you wonder, I lived only a few hundred yards from the main gate and I can honestly say the noise was not really noticeable, let alone a nuisance for the whole time i was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairyduck Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Oddly enough I went to High lodge last weekend for the first time too, though it has to be said my experience was a little different than yours... Everyone working there seemed friendly enough as you said, a lot of the shooters though were on the miserable side, people we tried to speak to to see what they thought of certain stands etc just grunted in reply or blanked us, we're not even that scary to look at. A lot of the stands seemed very similar in that there wasn't the huge variety of targets that I normally see at sporting targets for example, no battue, chondels and only one rabbit and one stand with midis on it. We shot 12 stands so there may have been other we missed but we did go to each stand in turn to see what they were like. 4 stands we went on had one trap which wasn't working, there was no members of staff driving around fixing things and as none of us had a mobile on us we couldn't phone them (which was the suggestion) so needless to say we had to miss out those stands. Shooting from the bunkers too wasn't great. Cost wise at 25p per clay with no allowance for no birds it's works out about a fiver more than normal. To finish off the day I got some lunch... Lasagne I fancied, looked like a good option... WRONG! Possibly the worst meal I've ever eaten anywhere, a dried up piece of lasagne about 2½" square which was burnt on the bottom, totally devoid of any moisture, and the pasta on the top was so hard as to be totally inedible, I would have sent it back but staff in the canteen seemed to be very scarce so I left most of it an vowed never to eat there again. Edited August 4, 2009 by hairyduck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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