A once special place

Talk of special places in my last post brought back memories of somewhere very dear to me, this is taken from a diary piece I wrote in February 2010


Paradise lost

I fished this old estate lake several years ago and had the chance to take up a ticket again this season, there's not a great deal left in there size wise nowadays to be honest, I've had some lovely fish in years gone by but between my periods of membership some were sold it seems, not that there was ever a great head of carp anyway. You will have to excuse the quality of some of these old pictures, they preceed digital and I've taken digital pictures of the stills to upload them

The view from the dam wall

 God was it a stunning place, totally private down a meandering valley and you hardly ever saw a soul, very few anglers and no general public allowed at all. At the top of the lake lies a stately home just visible through the trees and beside it sits a church dating back to the 1650's, the public roam that area and that tiny glimpse of the real world so near yet so far away just emphasised even more how lucky I was to be all alone in such a wonderful spot.

Looking across to the wood bank

A few fish from years gone by

 Twice last year I saw deer within 30 yards at the most from me, once along the path from the bivvy and once even closer whilst I was out wading, truly magical. It was incredibly overgrown, I spent time down there with petrol hedgecutters and a brushcutter just making small pathways and room for a bivvy while being so careful not to destroy what its all about.

Could you wish for anything more?

Tucked away

I only caught two carp during a few visits in the summer and size was insignificant, an ancient looking old mirror that seemed to fit in well with its surroundings and a common of around the same size, it didn't matter much, the fish were almost a side line

An old warrior

I found myself with a few hours spare on Sunday afternoon so thought i'd grab a bit of piking, i'd heard it had done a fair few lately.

Imagine my feelings to be greeted by this.

Words cannot describe it, I'm just devastated, I lasted about an hour and had to leave, my heart wasn't in it. Apparently the owner has been given a grant to turn it into parkland as it was many years ago, a bit ironic seeing as he also owns a sawmill i'm sure there was plenty of profit heading that way as it is. I can't say any more I am truly lost for words I feel like crying.

I feel that i've lost an old friend


That was two years ago, looking back at it now has brought back a lot of memories and a lot of sadness, needless to say I didn't renew my membership. We do still visit the public side of the estate now and then but I tend to avoid looking across at the lake, they said that time would heal it well and that it would once again become a lovely lake, maybe they are right but it will never return to what it was to me, it took many years to create such a place but just a few weeks to destroy it