Recently I went to Virginia Water, the largest man-made lake in at the time of its creation in the 18th century. Virginia Water is located about an hour from London by car and train.
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| This is one of the many relaxing views you can see as you walk around the lake |
Virginia water is great for a walk around the perimeter of the lake, which is around 7.2km in total, and the walk takes about 2 hours. If you decide to follow the path around the lake this is a very easy walk that is completely paved and accessible as the ground is mostly flat, there are some small hills.
You can also choose to follow 2 other paths: the red path, which is a hilltop path that is chair friendly, and the yellow path, which is has steps and hills, both of which can lead into each other or back to the lake path. These paths allow you to see more of the park around the lake as well as some other wildlife, we saw Red Deer on our walk when we took the yellow path, as seen in the image below.
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| This is an image of a Red Deer which looks like one I saw on my walk, however I was unable to get a good picture. This picture is from the British Deer Society website. |
The yellow path also allowed us to see the Punchbowl, which was a beautiful Punchbowl style garden. The park was doing work on the Punchbowl so we could only see it from the outside but it was still stunning. There is a bench opposite the punchbowl which has a great view.
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The Punchbowl
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As well as we found a small river and a pond with a huge dragonfly structure which was fun to see and very surprising.
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| The dragonfly structure at the end of the small river we found. |
On our walk on the lake path there are some sights to see, including the Leptis Magna ruins and a Totem pole, as well as a beautiful five arch bridge, a waterfall and some structures such as Toad stools made of wood, which create a fun environment for children to play in nature.
The Leptis Magna ruins were built to resemble Roman ruins after having been "gifted" by Libya to King George IV. They have had some renovations over the years due to erosion from being outside as well as people trying to take pieces of the ruins. They were interesting to see, as you can see how they were originally built from signposts around the ruins and what they've become over the years. As well as there is the historical context from how the ruins ended up in Virginia Water.
The ruins are just after the cascade (waterfall) which was unfortunately not flowing when I went which meant I found it underwhelming. The cascade when flowing is beautiful, but when I saw it there was a red stain on the rocks (not a healthy look) and the rocks although pretty were not something you would stay to look at for long.
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This is a picture of the waterfall from the Windsor Great Parks website.
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We also saw the Totem Pole, a gift to the Queen from Canada in 1958 to mark the centenary of British Colombia being a crown colony. The impressive 100 foot totem pole was crafted by Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwakitul Federation and each section shows a different image from a man wearing a hat to a whale.
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| This image shows the stunning height of the totem pole |
As well as these sights you can also relax on the walk, as the park is surrounded by greenery, taking in the beauty of nature. The walk is a lovely break from busy London life and it is nice to escape for a few hours. You can also see lots of wildlife on the walk from beetles to deer.
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This was a beetle I saw on my walk
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Virginia Water is a part of the Windsor Great Parks so you can also venture further to the other parts of the Windsor Great park and see more, however I did not do this. Along the walk you can also learn about the history of the lake's creation which was very informative.
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