Another sunny autumn day saw me out with the dogs again, this time for a walk round the lakes at Moses Gate Country Park, three miles south of the town centre. I hadn’t originally intended taking Sophie and Poppie with me as I was actually going to visit some friends, but it was such a nice day it would have been a shame to leave them behind and the country park was on the way to where I was going anyway.
An area of some 750 acres, the country park lies on the Kingfisher Way which runs from Clifton Country Park about three miles south up to the Jumbles Reservoir on the northern outskirts of the town. The three lakes are often referred to locally as Crompton Lodges as they were originally mill lodges supplying water to the nearby Crompton’s Paper Mill back in the 19th century. The mill closed at the beginning of the 20th century and the area fell into ruin, and it wasn’t until the mill itself was finally demolished in 1972 that there was local interest in developing the site as an area of recreation. Over the next decade the site was cleared and the country park was created, and ongoing work in the years since then has transformed the place into what it is now.
Parking is free in the large tree-shaded car park, there’s an adventure playground for kids and miles of riverside and woodland paths. Of the three lakes one is reserved for fishing, one for water sports such as canoeing, and the third and largest is a nature reserve for migratory birds and other wildlife. That one was absolutely teeming with hundreds of birds including seagulls, mallard ducks and Canada geese, and several families with young children were throwing bread and wild bird food to many of the eager web-footed residents.
Life In The Mouse House 
It looks a wonderful place to walk. These lovely autumn days are too good to waste indoors. When we lead busy lives we don’t appreciate what we have practically on our doorsteps. Definitely a place to re-visit.
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I think really the only reason why I don’t go to this place very often is because it’s south of the town and I live only a few minutes walk from open countryside and moorland to the north so I tend to stick to this area. I’ll definitely go back there though – a sunny day with snow on the ground (if we get any) would get me some great shots.
Incidentally, what do you think of the new photo sizes? I’ve found that the only way to get them how I want them is to resize them before I put them on here – it took a fair amount of trial and error but I think the size they are now is just right. I’ve also resized the ones in my canal walk post and they look much better.
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Lovely pictures. I like to see old industrial areas being reclaimed for parks like this rather, then being left to waste. We have one or two round here that are in my “write about if time” queue.
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I’ve no idea what the area looked like before the country park was created but it’s a lovely place now and very popular at weekends. There’s another country park with a big reservoir which I often enjoy walking round, that one is only about three miles from me. I took several photos round there during late spring/early summer this year so I may write about that one soon.
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Reading your post has me wanting to go on a long walk. My knees aren’t there yet, but i did walk 8 short blocks a few days ago. I didn’t care that I hurt later.
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Good for you walking eight blocks. To be honest I don’t think I would walk as much as I do if I didn’t have the dogs, they certainly make it much more enjoyable 🙂
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What a beautiful area for a dog walk! 😀
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It certainly is, and one which I’ll explore more at a later date 🙂
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