コルゲートの湖・トップ18

The perimeter path around the reservoir is very muddy in places currently due to the amount of rain. Welly boots needed in some places.

Tilgate Lake is the largest of the three lakes in Tilgate Park and remains a popular watersports centre and tourist attraction in Crawley, West Sussex. Tilgate Lake offers the public a wide range of outdoor activities including archery, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, raft building, rowing, running, sailing, standup paddleboarding, open water swimming, team building,

Tilgate Lake is the biggest of the three lakes in Tilgate Park. It's a popular watersports lake with lots of other activities happening on and around it. Human history here goes back to the Mesolithic period when flint tools were made here. More recently, the area was a royal deer park in the 1600s and then Tilgate Manor Estate from 1647. More recently, BT owned it and the lake was sold for private fishing. Crawley Urban District Council purchased the area in the 1960s, and it's now open to the public.

Southwater Country Park was formed after the closure of the brickworks and quarry in 1981. The area is now a thriving wildlife and leisure area with woodland, grasslands and a lake. There are children's playgrounds, a beach for paddling, watersports, fishing, bike trails and a café.

Good place for a bit of cake on the Downs Link.

Wonderful dinosaur themed park that is along the cycle route and trackway way, sells hot food and ice cream so well worth taking a break here.

Using the power of moving water to drive a mill wheel is an ancient invention of the human spirit of discovery, the origins of which can be traced back to times long past. Thanks to such a construction, human or animal muscle power could be easily replaced by the power of the natural elements through a watercourse - natural or artificially created - in order to grind grain into corn or press oil from fruit, for example. There are essentially two different ways of driving watermills: * Either the flowing water simply hits the blades of the water wheel from below to set it in motion; or * the water is guided above the wheel - usually through a so-called "mill channel" - and falls onto the blades; this type of construction is more efficient due to natural gravity.

The tranquil Ardingly reservoir can be found 3 miles north of Haywards Heath. It is home to a number of bird species which can be identified with panels situated within bird hides around the reservoir. Walk the Kingfisher Nature Trail around the eastern shores and for the more adventurous, the Ardingly Activity Centre provides sailing, canoeing and windsurfing opportunities. Unfortunately most if not all access to the waterside is restricted to anglers.