Better book your tickets now (Picture: SWNS)
Shauna wasn’t exactly impressed when she saw one of the small Gloucestershire village’s main tourist attractions.
She walked about halfway up Littledean Hill Road, a winding residential street overlooking the rolling green fields between Cinderford and Littledean, to see it.
The famous ‘rusty pole’ of Cinderford.
‘Don’t be fooled by this; it’s not a genuine attraction,’ Shauna wrote on TripAdvisor last November.
‘Just a sewer vent pipe – not even that unusual.’
But some locals beg to differ.
Pole or pipe? You decide (Picture: Google Maps)
The rusted pole, which according to the review platform is open all day, every day, is the fourth most recommended thing to do in Cinderford on TripAdvisor.
The platform allows regular people to embrace their inner critic, bashing out reviews for attractions that TripAdvisor then pools together to make a top ranking of things to do for local areas.
CHP, as some locals call the pole, was narrowly beaten by the Bespoke Brewing Co, the nearby Littledean Jail in the next village over and Mallards Pike.
However, it did manage to beat Elton Carp Lakes, the Palace Cinema and the Dean Laser Clay shooting range.
The pole hasn’t made the cut yet of the Wikipedia page of Cinderford, a former mining town of about 8,800 people, which lists a cinema, a well, a town trail and a park as the town’s tourist attractions.
Nor has the rusty pole had the same wave of raving reviews that a hole in the wall by a bank has had. But the seven five-star reviews speak for themselves.
Cinderford locals have managed to see the pole before it gets ‘too popular’ (Picture: Tom Wren/SWNS)
Some counted themselves lucky for catching a glimpse of the pole before it became ‘too popular’. Others were more than happy to ‘surrender themselves to the wisdom of the rusty pole’.
‘Upon hearing about the wonder of the infamous Cinderford Rusty Pole, me and two other thrill-seekers embarked on an expedition to top all previous endeavours: To seek out the wonder of the “CRP”,’ wrote John W in his only TripAdvisor review.
‘I can safely say this has to be the pinnacle of all the wonders of the world. It does beg the all-time question to top all questions: POLE OR PIPE? I do believe this to be, in fact, a pipe. Sorry @CRP.’
Emma S agreed. ‘What a pole! The mesmeric effect of the lighting glinting from the rust can only be described as transcendental,’ she wrote in December.
‘Prepare for an experience that will change your outlook on life.’
For a third TripAdvisor user, 15des1976, it’s a tall order finding the words to do the rusty pole of Cinderford justice.
‘This ranks up among the Pyramids and the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu as one of the true wonders of the world,’ he said.
‘Get there early to avoid the tour buses and pushy souvenir sellers.’
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Come one, come all, come see Cinderford’s rusty pole!
