It's got a fine, if distant, view of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the pit where Arthur Scargill started work at the age of 15.
Now Woolley Edge South services on the M1 near Wakefield has won the highest level of award for its coffee shop in a new attempt to improve the standard of motorway food, drink and rest.
The grading has been organised by Visit England in conjunction with the Highways Agency and the five main operators of motorway services – Moto, Welcome Break, Roadchef, Extra and Westmorland. The idea is to give travellers a breakdown for the first time of all 71 stopovers on the UK motorway network - are worth a visit according to Visit England's assessors - and which are better to drive past.
Warwick, for example, is named as the best services in England for toilets (3 stars), Tebay South is the best for family outside play area (4 stars) and Beaconsfield for internal comfort (4 stars). Meanwhile, business people can decide between Strensham North and Donington Park which share the honours for business use (3 stars each).
On the wooden spoon side, organisers hope that the outing of low scorers will help lead to improvements, not just locally but overall.
James Berresford, Visit England's chief executive says:
It is important that the welcome visitors receive, and the quality of services on offer at motorway service areas, together add to the visitor's overall holiday experience.
Maybe they could a step further and copy the Franch system of 'aires', or motorway laybys overlooking fine views (the stretch of the M62 above Calderdale is one such), with picnic tables and loos, but no major buildings or other clutter to spoil the view.
But take care; the Wakefield area was the scene of Clement Freud's notorious prank when, after poor services at the Westgate station buffet, he named it in a magazine article as one of the five greatest eating places in the world, and chaos briefly ensued.
Do you have a favourite motorway services? Or the opposite (please use moderate terms...)? Very unoriginally, the Northerner reckons that Tebay comes top, but there are other strong contenders including Ross and Annandale Water. Please let us know.
