Knight Excavations dig deep for heritage fairground expansion
Local Hitachi fan Peter Knight has been making the most of the good weather in a race against time before the winter sets in and the Digger Man Blog went along to see what he is up to on his latest project.
Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre is a hidden gem in the Devon countryside, situated between Exeter and Bodmin not far from the Cornish border and just a few minutes away from the main arterial holiday route the A30. Due to its overwhelming success it is expanding its main building to include even more historic fairground rides and Knight Excavations are tackling the job.
Having made a start on the job earlier in the year Peter and his crew have just returned to site to continue the excavation taking out the side of a hill to facilitate the shed extension. An estimated 120,000 cubic metres will have been excavated by the end of the job including shaping of the batters. All the main dig has been tackled by Peter’s Hitachi ZX210LC-3 hydraulic excavator loading a combination of 9 tonne forward tipping dumpers and a Hydrema 912F articulated hauler hired in from the local Okehampton branch of H.E. Services.
The excavated material is being used to fill in another area of land at the top of the hill where suitable stone has been extracted for use in the build-up of the floor on the new building and for a new visitor’s car park which will also be constructed as part of this phase of the project.
At the tip area the latest addition to the Knight Excavations fleet was in action, a 2015 Hitachi ZX130LCN-5 which has replaced an outgoing earlier model.
Check out my little video clip from the afternoon on site in the glorious Devon sunshine.
If you are in the area or passing through I can highly recommend a visit to the Dingles Heritage Fairground Centre.
I have lived down here for over 18 years now and had passed the entrance on many occasions, but only recently went in for a visit and I must say I was really blown away by it!