Stanborough Park, also referred to as Stanborough Lakes is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The park features two lakes, which were opened in 1970. They were created by gravel extraction carried out at the time of the building of the

A1(M) motorway A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greater ...

The Boating Lake (the northern lake) at Stanborough is in size. It is a shallow lake, under three feet in depth with several small islands. The boating lake is fed by water from the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

at its north end and from a spring. Excess water flows over a weir back into the river at the south end. Coarse fish such as carp are bred in the boating lake and fishing is banned here. Pedalos & Rowing boats are available to hire. Splashlands splash park is situated on the North side of the park, open Easter to September and free to use. The Kiosk by Splashlands also sells hot drinks, ice-creams, chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, hot drinks, duck food and more. The Sailing Lake (the southern lake) is in size. This lake has no islands but is deeper than the

boating lake A boating lake is a lake used for recreational boating. Such lakes are often in parks and can be artificially made. Some boating lakes are used for model boats. References External links * Lakes by type Lakes A lake is often ...

, more than six and a half feet deep in places. Unlike the Boating Lake the Sailing Lake is ground water fed. Before the lakes were built the River Lea used to flow through part of the Sailing Lake but it was re-directed to the west side. Many watersport activities take place here, including sailing, paddleboarding, kayaking and angling. At the south end of the park there is access to Stanborough Reedmarsh, a Local Nature Reserve managed by the

Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust manages over 40 nature reserves covering nearly north of London, in Hertfordshire and the historic county of Middlesex, part of which is divided between the London boroughs of Barnet, Enfield, Harrow and Hilli ...

References

External links

Official website
Parks and open spaces in Hertfordshire Lakes of Hertfordshire Boating lakes {{England-lake-stub