Cotswold Water Park

The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system. The lakes were created by extraction of glacial Jurassic limestone gravel,which had eroded from the Cotswold Hills, and these filled naturally after working ceased in the early 1970s.

Unlike the name suggests it is not a water fun park but a rural area with many lakes created by previous and current gravel extraction. It is a significant area for wildlife and particularly for wintering and breeding birds. The local Wildlife Trusts (Gloucestershire and Wiltshire) are involved in partnership with the Cotswold Water Park Trust in working with local communities and organisations in the area. The Cotswold Water Park Trust is an environmental charity working to improve all 40 square miles of the Cotswold Water Park for people and wildlife. The lake area is very varied and encompasses a wide variety of recreational activities including sailing and fishing.

It consists of 147 numbered lakes which were formed by allowing old gravel quarries to become filled with water.

The area comprises approximately:

• 40 square miles (100 km2) of countryside
• 40 different lake owners
• 74 fishing lakes
• 10 lakes with SSSI status
• 150 kilometres (93 miles) of pathways, bridleways and cycleways
• 6,000 years of habitation
• 20,000 residents

The area is a mix of nature conservation activities (including nature reserves), recreation, rural villages and holiday accommodation. The site (Fairford Region; South Cerny Region; Coke's Pit Lake; Edward Richardson and Phyllis Amey reserve; Bryworth Lane reserve) are listed in the 'Cotswold District' Local Plan 2001-2011 (on line) as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS). The lake numbers in the SSSI designation are listed.

There is clear evidence that people have been living in this area for the past 6,000 years, but it is only in the last 50 years that the landscape has been transformed through gravel extraction.