Roadford Lake

Roadford Lake, also known as Roadford Reservoir is a man-made reservoir fed by the River Wolf. It is located to the north-east of Broadwoodwidger in West Devon, eight miles (13 km) east of Launceston and is the largest area of fresh water in the southwest of England. Operated by South West Water, it directly supplies water for North Devon. It also supplies Plymouth and southwest Devon via releases into the River Tamar for abstraction at Gunnislake.[1] It is a Local Nature Reserve.[2][3]

Roadford Lake
A picture of Roadford Lake seen from a bridge across the River Wolf
The lake, at very low level, seen from a bridge across the river Wolf (as it enters the lake).
A map showing the location of Roadford Lake in Devon
A map showing the location of Roadford Lake in Devon
Roadford Lake
LocationWest Devon
Coordinates50°42′0″N 4°13′45″W
Typereservoir
Primary inflowsRiver Wolf
Basin countriesUnited Kingdom
Managing agencySouth West Water
Built1989
Surface area295 ha (730 acres)
Water volume34,500 Ml (7.6×109 imp gal)

The creation of the reservoir in 1989 permitted extensive archaeological research to be undertaken in the valley of the River Wolf led by Professor Mick Aston of Bristol University and documented by the Channel Four documentary series Time Signs.[4]

In 2008 South West Water received planning permission to build a 100-bed holiday village beside the lake.[5]

Facilities
  • Brown Trout fishing
  • Lakeside Cafe
  • Activities:
    • Sailing
    • Rowing
    • Kayaking
    • Windsurfing
    • Canadian Canoes
    • High Ropes Course
    • Outdoor Archery Range
    • Indoor Climbing wall
    • Raft building
  • Footpath walks through mature forests/woodland
  • Cycleway through mature forests/woodland
  • Adjacent campsite

The facilities are managed by South West Lakes Trust, a registered charity.

Incidents

On 9 June 2022, two people died when the motorboat they were travelling in capsized on the lake.[6]

References
  1. South West Water - Roadford
  2. "Roadford Lake". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England.
  3. "Map of Roadford Lake". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England.
  4. "Timesigns - All 4".
  5. "Roadford Holiday Village". Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  6. Badshah, Nadeem (9 June 2022). "Devon police recover two bodies after boat capsized on lake". The Guardian.


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