Willen Lake
United Kingdom · Europe
About
Willen Lake is a visitor attraction, public park and purpose-built balancing lake in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Created during the development of the city in the 1970s, it forms part of its surface-water and flood-control system. The lake system covers approximately 40 hectares (100 acres) of water across two basins and is has been described by Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust as one of the largest purpose-built balancing lake systems in Britain.
The park is managed by The Parks Trust, an independent charity responsible for parks and green spaces in Milton Keynes, while the water levels are managed by Anglian Water. The South lake is the main recreational area, with watersports and visitor facilities concentrated on its western side. The North lake has a quieter character and is associated with wildlife habitat, public art and religious landmarks, including the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda and the Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist temple.
Willen Lake is Milton Keynes's most popular park; being free to enter, the number of visitors is not recorded. Surrounding the lake itself, there are a further 32 hectares (80 acres) of landscaped parkland. Both lakes are balancing lakes, designed to mitigate flooding from the River Ouzel.
There are large events held on the site throughout the year, including Comedy Central's FriendsFest.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.