Happendon

Happendon
Cairn Lodge
6 more photos in the gallery
Road:	M74 at J11 and J12 (also accessible to traffic on the A70 and the B7078)
Address:	Cairn Lodge Douglas Lanark Lanarkshire ML11 0RJ
Telephone number:	01555 851880
Signposted from the road?	Yes
Opened:	1993
Grid reference:	NS852336
Services type:	Single site located at a junction.

Cairn Lodge is a small and very quiet services area in the middle of nowhere on the B7078, parallel to the M74 between J11 and J12. Its facilities are meant to resemble Scotland and the local area, and it was recently declared the cheapest service station.

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Facilities

General: unknown
Restaurants: Restaurant
Shops: Retail Store
Fuel: Shell (pump types unknown)
Motel: none

Parking Prices

First two hours free for all vehicles. Further information is not available, please update this if you know.

Trivia

Happendon is Cairn Lodge's only service area, and it was the first on this section of the M74 when it opened in the early '90s. It was built by a couple who invested £500,000 into the site by selling their businesses and home and moving into a caravan on the site, even though they initially lost and had to fight for another two years before they could get confirmation that the services would be signed. It took another £5m to get the services up and running. They had looked at building other services in England.

Today it's overshadowed by Welcome Break and RoadChef's facilities either side of it, so it's very quiet and plans to give it a hotel and extended petrol station are now long gone. In some ways the quietness has helped it remain quaint. When it opened, they said they ran the services more like a luxury hotel.

The services are one of only two in Scotland which are not marked as a recommended truckstop. However, there is an extra lorry park next to the main services. There is also a small castle to the back of the services(!)

The petrol station was originally Gulf.

Survey Results

In 2009 Which? Motoring deemed the services as being the cheapest, with five 'popular' snacks costing £7. Not quite a bargain, but not bad all the same.

Alternatives

Comments and Reviews

Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.
Author: Message: Scotty Stopped off here for fueal and was surprised to find they were just as cheap as my local ASDA for their petrol prices, refreshing change form the usual rip-you-off attitude that most motorway service stations adopt! Posted: 20 Jul 2010, 09:38 camian just want to say a big thankyou to the owner, last night 22/12/2009 we were stuck in the snow and managed to make it to this service station. we were welcomed nuy the owner and his staff. when it came to leaving he was more than happy to help pull people out of the snow etc.. thankyou once again. was different to actually see the owner want to help. Posted: 23 Dec 2009, 22:17 Anonymous Called in here yesterday. Yes quiet, but much cleaner and nicer than either of its nearest rivals. Will definitely stop here again. Posted: 18 Oct 2009, 18:15 Alan Stopped here last week and it now has a coffee shop in addition to the self service restaurant, although it was not open at the time of my visit. it was still very quiet though. Happendon's owners need to turn it into a Scottish version of Tebay i think. captialise on the view of the old Tollhouse and the fact that the services are that bit different. Posted: 11 Aug 2009, 23:17 Clintons 31/01/09 aid 2.50 each for a 'fresh' scone, that was more like cake, they were warmed for us, but were dry as dust. With 2 only size available cappachinos, both only just warm our bill was a startling £9.50. We then enquired how much a bacon sandwich would have been and was quoted £2.50. How in this world can a plain scone, given it had both butter and jam, be the same price as a bacon sandwich? We did complain at the time, and all that could be said in the defence of one of the most dreadful scones either of us had ever eaten was that it had been baked that morning, and that was what we were paying this price for? We have of course told other Scottish travellers of our experience. What seems to have happened is that there has been so much money spent on the inside of the building, carpets, tables & chairs etc., a higher grade than normal service stations... What ever happens in the future we will plough on to Tebay,(Westmorland Services) It takes a lot for me to bother to do this! Posted: 17 Feb 2009, 12:15 Anonymous Information supplied is not correct. Happendon has always had a very busy petrol filling station !!! Posted: 01 Jul 2008, 19:07 Admin Post your comments and reviews for Happendon here, or you can return to Happendon. Posted: 08 Oct 2005, 11:02
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With thanks to Jonathan Elton for the information used on this page.