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Welcome to Lake 6, part of the Cotswolds Water Park. The Water Park stretches for 40 square miles straddling the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire borders. The park has been created as a result of gravel extractions which have taken place over the last 50 years or so.

Lake 6 is one of about 150 lakes and is managed for wildlife and people on behalf of the owners of the lake, The Four Pillars Hotel. We hope that the information available to you via mobile phone helps you enjoy your visit to the Water Park and your walk around the lake.

Particular thanks to the Cotswold Water Park Society and Four Pillars Hotel for their support.

Arts

Landscape and water has long been the inspiration for artists. This area, the Upper Thames and Cotswold Hills, was home to one of the country's most significant artistic periods - the Arts and Crafts movements.

The arts continue to play an important role in the area's culture and economy and many local artists continue to work in ways that help sustain the locality by developing a sense of place. The following video clips explore artists' thought patterns and processes on a couple of visits to Lake 6 and illustrate some of their visual research.

Artists' video: The Feeling of being here (for mobile)
Artists' video: The Feeling of being here (for Quicktime)

Artists' video Pooh Sticks

Special thanks to Emma Clark and Suze Adams for their input to the videos and thanks to the Cotswold Water Park Society and Four Pillars Hotel.

Ecology

Lake 6 is one of the oldest Water Park lakes and is bounded by a variety of mature habitats; the still waters of the old canal, the fast flowing River Churn, ancient hedgerows and reed beds. These attract a great diversity of wildlife.

Lake 6 is an integral part of the Water Park Biodiversity Action Plan, and is carefully designed and managed by ecologists on behalf of the Four Pillars Hotel. A number of details have been incorporated into the long-term care of the lake and its wildlife as illustrated in the following video and images.

Special thanks to Jude Smith for her help with the video, "Big Classroom" for the illustrations, The Cotswold Water Park Society and Four Pillars Hotel.

Archaeology

The creation of the lakes at the Water Park has given archaeologists and geologists a rare insight into the history of a landscape. There are many fascinating stories still emerging, stories that explore evolution of wildlife over the ages, stories that span ice ages and put our current predicament about climate change into a unique context - and of course the big question of what happened to Neanderthal man whose existence and way of life is so well recorded in the rocks and gravels into which this new watery landscape has been excavated. The following video and images focus one of these stories.

Special thanks to Dr. Neville Hollingworth for providing so much information and to Dr. Mark O'Dell, particularly for the use of his illustrations and to both of them for having explored the past on our behalf. Thanks also to the Cotswold Water Park Society and Four Pillars Hotel.