A restful day at Ardingly Reservoir
This weekend was the warmest we’ve had this year. It was too beautiful to be indoors, but we didn’t want to be going out too far, so we settled for a walk at Ardingly Reservoir. This was next to Ardingly College, a prestigious private school. What a beautiful setting for a school!
We arrived rather late in the day, so we didn’t have time to make it all around the reservoir. The parking lot, charged at a pound a day, closes at 7PM and has a barrier to prevent people from hanging out after hours. The reservoir was much bigger than we had expected. We regretted that we had not thought to come out earlier and bring along a picnic.
It didn’t turn out to be such a good walk, though. Not that the place was not conducive to a walk, but the kids just wanted to goof-off, giving each other piggy-back rides and rolling around, etc. Our pace could only be described as an intermittent leisurely stroll. We only picked up speed when they spied a small pig farm. Unfortunately for them, the pigs were far too comfortable wallowing and did not come over.
There were small paths for birdwatchers, but we did not enter as the kids were too loud and we didn’t want to interrupt any serious birdwatching. There was also a small area all around the reservoir that was fenced off for anglers. I’m not sure if there’s a private angling group that the place is reserved for. We’ll definitely have to come back later in the summer to spend the day.
