Inside sport

One of the unexpected highlights of this week's trip to Center Parcs came on the way home.

We stopped off in Penrith for some lunch and to pick up some meat from Cranstons, a butcher's shop that comes highly recommended in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Book of Meat.

We parked up in a car park that adjoins Penrith FC's ground and, before we left for home, I thought it was worth taking a pic, given that someone had sprayed Penrith FC RIP on one of the exit gates. I presumed there was a tale to tell.

What I didn't expect though was for the caretaker/secretary/general man-about-the-ground to come bounding out of his office and invite me inside for a look around. What a treat.

It turns out that the 100-year-old ground is due to be demolished to make way as part of some kind of town centre improvement scheme and that Penrith Town (as they are now known) are being relocated to a 'state-of-the-art' 1,500 seater stadium elsewhere.

My new friend on the inside seemed less than enthusiastic about this state of affairs. Like me, he's sad that these creaking old stadiums have been almost eradicated from the map of British football. OK, they're virtually falling down of their own accord but you've got to say stadiums like this have a character that the Reebok and the Riverside and others like them will never possess.