South Cerney and the Cotswold Water Park

By Chris Guy posted on 12 Jan 2023 in Rural

The Cotswold Water Park

Summer 2022 and overrunning building work meant finding temporary accommodation at short notice. We settled on a holiday lodge alongside Spring Lake in the Cotswold Water Park, near South Cerney.

The Cotswold Water Park comprises 180 lakes, spread over 42 square miles. The lakes are man made, the pits were originally created by the extraction of gravel and once that was complete they filled naturally with water from rivers and streams. Now the area is managed by the Cotswold Lake Trust and many of the lakes are set up for leisure activities such as sailing, water skiing and fishing. There are hotels, bars and restaurants and plenty of lakeside lodges such as the one we rented. In addition to all the human activities there are extensive nature reserves throughout the park.

Living and working in one of the lakeside lodges during the hot summer of 2022 had a slighty surreal feel to it. The lodges are all similar in look and construction, the area feels very car-centric and our fellow residents were constantly changing. Weekends were busy, some week days the place felt deserted. On top of that there is a lot of signage, mainly telling you which areas were off-limits, where you couldn't park and where you couldn't swim or play.

A row of pastel-coloured detached houses in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac, with parked cars, lawns and trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Lakeside lodges at Spring Lake

Black-and-white photo of a small hatchback parked beside a wooden-clad building, with spiky plants behind and other cars in the background.

Spring Lake parking

Black-and-white riverside scene framed by dangling willow branches; a speedboat cuts across the water with rows of houses lining the distant shore.

Learning to water ski on Spring Lake

Black-and-white view of a calm lake with wooden jetties, distant sailboats, tree-lined shore and empty parking bays.

Private Car Park at Lake 12

No playing in the woods

Danger keep out

Private. No public right of way

Black-and-white photo of a roadside bicycle warning sign beside a small roadside memorial; a white pickup drives past on a tree-lined road.

Roadside tribute

Black-and-white scene of a small lake with a dense, rounded willow-like tree at its edge, reeds and long grass in the foreground and trees and houses across the water.

Churn Pool Fishery

Black-and-white photo of a two-storey wooden house with a hipped roof, framed by trees, shrubs and a wooden fence in a quiet suburban garden.

Black-and-white photo of a row of modern two-storey suburban houses with pitched roofs, front gardens, parked cars and trees.

Holiday lodges at Spring Lake

South Cerney

The Cotswold Water Park is not all lakes and nature reserves; it encompasses various towns and villages, including South Cerney (pop. 3,500). This was the closest village to our base of Spring Lake - about a 15 to 20 minute walk away.

South Cerney is a traditional Cotswold village with 16th and 17th century buildings in the centre.

Row of honey‑coloured stone cottages with steep gables, a green door, parked car and telegraph pole beside a quiet village road in the warm light of dusk.

Station Road, South Cerney

Black-and-white image of traditional stone cottages with tile roofs, chimneys and TV aerials, a small garage door and gate beside a quiet street.

Station Road, South Cerney

Black-and-white photograph of a weathered sign reading "UPPER UP" mounted on wooden posts before dense foliage.

Upper Up. Road sign in South Cerney

South Cerney Book Exchange

Grainy black-and-white shot of a rugged 4x4 parked by a hedge, showing the front half with a prominent tyre, roll cage and weathered bodywork.

Land Rover Defender, South Cerney

Black-and-white photo of a guitar amplifier stood on the pavement beside a hedge and wooden gate, a cable trailing on the ground and a sheet of paper resting on top.

Amplifier, free to collector

Further south is Cerney on the Water, a new development by Pegasus Group and Redrow PLC.

Being someone who is grimly fascinated by the new build aesthetic in the UK, I opted to spend some time wandering around Cerney on the Water.

Cones

A row of pale stone houses with slate roofs beyond tall wild grasses, set beneath a dramatic grey sky.

Cerney on the Water, South Cerney

Black-and-white photo of a quiet suburban street with detached stone and rendered houses, a gravel path, low wooden railings and young trees under a grey sky.

Cerney on the Water, South Cerney

Black and white photo of a suburban stone garage with a pitched slate roof, a basketball hoop above the doors, neat shrubs and a gravel driveway in front.

Garage with basketball hoop

Black-and-white photo of modern gabled houses in stone and vertical timber, with a low dry-stone wall and gravel courtyard in the foreground.

Row of modern stone and timber houses with pitched slate roofs behind a trimmed hedge, under a bright blue sky with scattered clouds.

Black-and-white view of modern stone houses with steep gables, a parked car, a dry-stone wall and a traditional street lamp beside the road.

None

Row of modern suburban houses beyond tall grasses and a pond, set against an overcast sky.

Cerney on the Water, South Cerney

Black and white: a path by shrubs leads to a wire fence; beyond, pitched-roof houses stand beneath a cloudy sky.

Fence separating footpath from development

Thanks for viewing

Photography copyright © Chris Guy 2022. All of the images were shot on either Ilford PAN-F (B&W) or Kodak Portra 160 (colour) 35mm film, with the exception of two images shot on a Fuji X100F digital camera.

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