Rudyard Lake

Today we're looking at an often overlook gem here.

Rudyard Lake provides some of the most dramatic scenery to be found in the Staffordshire Moorlands near the market town of Leek and over 500,000 visitors come to her shores each year.

The Lake covers some 168 acres and is over 2.5 miles long on which you can take a round trip aboad and where there are facilities such as at ea room.

It is owned by the Canal & River Trust and the commercial leisure activities are managed by Rudyard Lake Ltd.

The Lake was built as a reservoir in 1797. Indeed even to this day the Lake still supplies the canal system for which it was designed and remains an active working reservoir.

The Lake is the place where Rudyard Kipling’s parents first met, where Captain Webb, the first channel swimmer, came to demonstrate his skills and where The African Blondin (Carlos Trower) appeared several times amazing the crowds 30m above the Lake on a tightrope.

You can go canoeing.

It was at one point a resort served by the local railway with tea parties and arts events taking place.

Rudyard was visited by the Novelist George Orwell in the mid ninteen thirties enroute for the coal mines across this part of Staffordshire before moving to Lancashire for his social study The Road To Wigan Pier examining the appalling conditions of people in the Midlands and North of England during what was dubbed the Great Depression.

The Rudyard Lake Steam Railway is a Victorian style narrow gauge steam railway which gives a delightful three mile return trip from the free car park at Rudyard Station along the side of Rudyard Lake on a line originally built by the North Staffordshire Railway company

The track guage is 10.35 inches and the rolling stock of former Isle of Mull Railway, including engines Frances, Victoria and Glen Auldyn in the fleet.

Butterton

 

Newsflash! The Peak District isn't only in Derbyshire, a good chunk is to be found in the Staffordshire Moorlands and this idyllic place is Butterton, a village extremely fortunate not lost anyone during both World Wars.

The stone properties are very typical of this mainly agricultural area.

Welcome to Egypt!

 

You can see the world around here without going very far because just out of the town of Biddulph, there is a Country Park and absolutely amazing Biddulph Grange Gardens with plants that are just out of this world, literally having been collected and planted to give an impression of whole countries with structions that enhance it.

Here we are at the entrance to Egypt with two big cats.

Biddulph Moor

 

Picture credits: Mark Swindles.

Sunset over Biddulph Moor, like chunks of this area part urbanized though industry and yet part rural, it has a particular charm of it's own such as the granite rocks and views which were well captured in this picture.

Nature it must be said is lovely in the Staffordshire Moorlands, and that's not me sticking up for my backyard, many outsiders have said as much with hills, farmland and even Wallabies in the far north.

Some of that industry, coal mining has ceased although its legacies can be found, some replaced by modern tech and service industies that support a village with many facilities just a couple of miles from the town, which is part of our vast highly urban sprawl running through "The Potteries" and Newcastle Under Lyme.

It's very fortunate for Guides and Scouts here to have such a resource "on tap".

Timbersbrook

 

Timbersbrook is a popular area for short walks and picnicing near Bosley just on Congleton Edge forming the boundary between that part of Cheshire and Biddulph here in Staffordshire.

It bisects the Gritstone Trail and the Cloud, a pleasant short walk 

While today it may seem unspoilt unlike much of this area from industrialization actually it has a industrial past like much of the adjacent Staffordshire Moorlands.

The tall chimney of the Silver Springs Bleaching and Dyeing Works could be seen for miles around before it was demolished by Blaster Bates in 1966. Today Timbersbrook Picnic Area is a peaceful spot where families can picnic on the edge of young woodland.

The towns of Leek, Congleton and Macclesfield were centres for silk production with many mills.

Water from Timbers Brook was once used to power the silk mill and the old Mill Pool is now a locally important breeding pond for toads.

The Cloud

 

 One place many in Scouts here do visit is The Cloud, near Bosley, Congleton, Cheshire with a distance of around a mile and a half it's not too taxing but a great introduction.

The Cloud, often referred to as Bosley Cloud, is a well-known gritstone rise close to Congleton, sitting on the boundary between Cheshire and Staffordshire. 

Many people valued for its wide-reaching views and is cared for by the National Trust. 

The hill is a popular destination for walkers, forming part of the Gritstone Trail, and features a trig pillar and viewing indicator at the top. A network of footpaths leads to the summit from nearby locations such as Timbersbrook.

Explorers II

Part of the changes in Explorers reflects the breath of the program and awards you can work towards.

The new Explorers Democracy Activity Badge has been added reflecting more the changes in the involvement of children in the democratic process across the UK with voting in Wales and Scotland at 16+ and being able to stand for election at 18 learing how voting happens, peoples rigths and responsibilites

Part of the revamp involves topics such STEM which now going to have an Award in its own right reflecting it's emportantance not least in further eductaion and employment.