Charities join forces with De Vere Hotel to launch new Visitor Centre in the Cotswold Water Park
With pictures: A new Visitor Centre has opened in the Cotswold Water Park, thanks to a partnership between the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel, Cotswold Lakes Trust and Cotswold Canals Trust.
Cotswold Lakes Trust and Cotswold Canals Trust have launched a fantastic new Visitor Centre on the shores of the Cotswold Water Park.
The new information hub has come about thanks to a new partnership between Cotswold Lakes Trust, Cotswold Canals Trust and the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel.
The luxury hotel in South Cerney has leased the former lakeside Muddy Duck Café next to its Boathouse restaurant to the two charities which have joined forces to transform it into a thriving new venture.
The Visitor Centre opens from Saturday May 27 and will be run by volunteers from both charities from 10am-3pm at weekends and in the school holidays including May half-term.
General Manager of the De Vere Cotswold Water Park Hotel, Dan Kelly, was delighted to see the venture take off.
“The big advantage to us now is that we can offer our guests a genuine visitor centre on site. It opens up potential for guided wildlife tours and all sorts. Our guests can feel they really are in the centre of things,” he said.
For Cotswold Lakes Trust, the new Visitor Centre replaces a small information desk in the café at the neighbouring Gateway Centre in South Cerney.
Development Director Matthew Millett thanked the De Vere. “We’re really pleased that we can now do the Cotswold Water Park proud and tell visitors what a fascinating and incredible place this is,” he said.
The third part of the partnership is the Cotswold Canals Trust whose volunteers will be helping to run the Visitor Centre. The charity has also provided a supply of books for sale from its existing shops in Stroud and Stonehouse.
Development Director of Cotswold Canals Trust, John Allan, said the charity had long wanted to establish a presence in the area.
“It is very special that two charities can focus their resources and find ways to benefit the whole community and wildlife. I am so pleased that we found a way to make this Visitor Centre come to life and am grateful to everyone at Cotswold Lakes Trust and the De Vere Hotel for making this possible,” he said.
The Visitor Centre offers a host of information about the Cotswold Water Park, historic Thames and Severn Canal, wildlife, walking and cycle routes, leisure facilities and hostelries, and the work of both charities. The centre has its own car park, lots of seating and a viewing platform over Lake 6, which is teeming with wildlife.
Anyone who wants to volunteer for either charity can find out more at the Visitor Centre. They can also donate books, the proceeds of which will go towards funding the centre’s running costs.
The Cotswold Water Park is a network of more than 180 lakes across 42 square miles which emerged from decades of intensive gravel extraction and restoration. It is now a unique wetland landscape.
The lakes are home to an amazing variety of wildlife and a host of leisure activities for its 20,000 residents and one million annual visitors. In 2021, it was recognised nationally as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
For more information: www.waterpark.org
The Thames and Severn Canal, completed in 1789, was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England’s two largest rivers for better trade. Today it is a perfect walking route, a place to unwind or take a boat trip at Lechlade.
For more information: www.cotswoldcanals.org
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