This is the track through North Spinney

Water pours over the Forest Road at Dumb Bob Spinney

There's just nowhere for the water to go

A flash flood on already saturated clay. Holiday cabin here?

Put down hard standing but you'll still have standing water

This is the only access to Fineshade Top Lodge... and it floods

The FC know about the mud problems. Why don't they tell Forest Holidays?

Water collects quickly and does not flow away - it's flat ground

You might think this is a river - but it's not flowing anywhere

This is the effect of working when the ground's wet

This is an unofficial cycle track, except when it rains

Would a Forest Holidays play area be any better than this

Once a dip is created it will always fill with water very quickly

If any 4x4 persists in going off the hard track this is what happens.

This is the track where Forest Holidays proposed to bring their construction traffic.

Compacted clay gets impervious

This pond was overlooked by FH's surveyors and lies alongside their construction access route

This is simply surface water - not a pond at all in the summer

It's no wonder that most Fineshade ponds hold water right through the year, given the impervious nature of the clay

Would you like to pay over £1000 to stay here?

Any frequently used area soon becomes a quagmire

There will have to be lots of hard tracks to avoid this sort of thing.

Even little-used paths in Fineshade soon look like this

Because the land is flat ditches just collect water that cannot flow away

A feature of the ground here is that springs suddenly emerge. This one is new in 2016

Walk off the tracks in Fineshade and the water will go over your ankles unless you're very careful.

Drainage ditch which has ceased to flow right beside FH's proposed "Retreat"

Center Parcs decided against building here in the 1980s because of the clay. You can see why.

The sound of rippling water can be very attractive. The trouble is you rarely hear it in FIneshade - water doesn't flow!