There's a section of the A30, a hill nearby a place called Fraddon
Apparently the many people in the rural South West who aren't connected to the sewerage mains still have to make use of your old-skool septic tanks, which have to be emptied every so often by tanker truck (some humourously entitled 'The Turdis' after the nature of their contents) and disposed of.

Now, mains sewage gets treated, the water recycled, the remnants sterilised (supposedly) and as is the case in Cornwall, pumped out to sea.

However the contents of the cess-tanks undergo a different method of disposal, and this section of the A30 is near to a site that is supposed to sequester this stinky effluent in bore holes underground. You'd think this would render it pretty distant and unable to offend the nose in that respect.

No. I make that journed quite frequently as I ahve for 13 years now worked up in the Midlands but go and visit my daughter where she lives in Cornwall, using that very section of the road.

It is the ONLY time that I ever have to remember about a mile away to switch the aircon/heater/blower in the car to Recirculate to avoid the system sucking in lungfuls of stinking, foetid sulphurous gas that emanates from this site. Naturally in the summer it is worse.

To capitalise on this offense to the nostrils, one year the owner decided, on the sly, to just spread the stuff on adjacent fields a la muckspreading. THAT year the stench was truly awful.

Anyone thinking of taking a cheap holiday cottage in the South West over the summer, check that it's not within smelling distance of here...

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=a30&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x486d87a5bf4d7fb3:0xc010bd0ef1c763e8,A30,+Okehampton+EX20&gl=uk&ei=guXfUsHUO7GS7AbT1IG4BA&ved=0CLABELYD
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Wed 22 Jan 2014, 16:02, 2 replies)

Ah,
reminds me of house hunting about 5 years ago.

We looked at a house that seemed very cheap for it's size, in Twickenham.

There seemed nothing wrong with it, except it was close to the Heathrow flight path, but we already live under that so it's no biggie.

Then I looked on Google maps it, and found it was about 440m from this place.

Further Googling tells me when the wind blows in the opposite direction, it's is almost unbearable for residents.
(username failed moderation, Wed 22 Jan 2014, 17:42, closed)

it is a terror, househunting.
The place in Cornwall that I bought (and my ex and daughter now live in) had to be checked for mine surveys of the area in case it fell down a disused pit in the night. Even then, the proviso was 'well they didn't document all mineworking very well so it still might happen' as they took the £300 off you.....
( Rotating Wobbly Hat That's not a banana. THIS is a banana., Wed 22 Jan 2014, 17:51, closed)