Cotswold Water Park

Last week I stayed for a couple of days at The Lakes by Yoo, a ritzy holiday homes development on the Cotswold Water Park near Swindon. Swindon is an unlovely town, noted for railways, factories and roundabouts, and the Cotswold Water Park is a bunch of gravel pits. But...they are rapidly being transformed into a chain of magical waters, some devoted to holiday homes, some to wildlife, others to fishing and boating. I woke up one morning to the sight of a guy casually paddling over the lake with an oar. It is a transformation from the moonscape that was there only a few years ago when it was an active extraction pit.
Tomorrow I will be back, this time at Keynes Country Park for the annual Home Built Boats Rally. As has become traditional with the HBBR, incessant rain is forecast. But we will have fun.
Chris Perkins draws my attention to a 'start to row' day being organised by the new Cotswold Rowing Club the following weekend.
The Cotswold Rowing Club is being established in advance of the creation of a new rowing course at Cleveland Lakes, on the CWP near Ashton Keynes. The course will eventually extend to 2km, and the creators hope they will be able to achieve Olympic standard.
So if you are in the area, go along and try rowing. You'll enjoy it. Go for gold! Details are here.