Easy hikes and walks around Water Orton

Babbs Mill Lake sits in the Babbs Mill Local Nature Reserve and has a designated cycle path running right the way through. There are benches dotted around and ample open space for a sit-down and picnic. Make sure to say hi to the local wildlife who you'll spot milling around the lake.

Connecting seamlessly with Babbs Mill Park and Cole Bank Park, Meriden Park forms an integral part of Kingfisher Country Park, earning affection from numerous local residents. This lush oasis nestled within a bustling residential hub features play zones, recreational spaces, and the serenity of a lake and meandering stream, offering a taste of green living in the heart of the lively town.

A picturesque lake in the middle of the Kingfisher Local Nature Reserve. Fed by the River Cole with an array of wildlife.

perfect for a summer drink

Shustoke Reservoir is managed by Severn Trent. The reservoir was completed in 1884 to provide water for Birmingham. Nowerdays the reservoir supplies Nuneaton and the surrounding area.

The parish church of ST. GILES consists of a chancel with a north vestry and organ-chamber, nave, south porch, and west tower. The tower dates from the 16th century—the first half or middle—but the remainder of the building has no ancient features except the jambs of the east window and the rubble walling, which may be 14th-century work. The building was restored in 1870: this seems to have included the rebuilding of the south wall of the nave and the complete renovation of the windows and doorways of the nave and chancel, and new roofs and furniture. The resetting of a number of carved stones in the tower walls, most of them apparently of the 14th century, may perhaps indicate an earlier tower. All the windows and other details are modern unless otherwise described. The chancel (about 19 ft. by 15 ft.) has an east window of three trefoiled lights and tracery: the jambs of one chamfer are ancient, probably 14th century. In the north wall is an archway to the organ-chamber and vestry and east of it a recess with a credence shelf. On the south side is a window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights and a quatrefoil. The walls are of medieval red rubblework with heavy angle-dressings at the east angles. The pointed chancel arch is entirely modern. The nave (49 ft. by 22 ft.) has four north and three south windows of two trefoiled lights and varying tracery. The pointed south doorway is of two chamfered orders. Just west of the third north window is a straight joint marking the jamb of a former north doorway. The north wall is of ancient rubble, but the south wall and porch are of modern coursed yellow stone. The gabled roofs are modern. The vestry and organ chamber has a two-light traceried east window, a north window of one light, and a west window that was like it but is now reduced for a monument to Charles Jennens, 1773, who was a benefactor to the church. The 16th-century west tower (about 10 ft. square) is built of red sandstone ashlar and is divided into two stages, the lower a tall one, by a moulded string-course. It has a plinth of two courses, the upper moulded, and a plain parapet. At the west angles are diagonal buttresses of four stages with moulded offsets to each of the stages and at the east are north and south square buttresses. In the south-west angle is a stair-vice (not projecting) with a four-centred doorway in the inner splayed angle. The 16th-century arch to the nave has responds of two chamfered orders, the inner with a plain moulded capital. The neck-mould is continued in the outer order, which is stopped out to square immediately above it. The two-centred head is of two chamfered orders, both stopped out to square at the springing. The old west window is set very much to the north of the middle of the wall because of the stair-vice: it is of two plain pointed lights and spandrel in a four-centred head with a hood-mould and a three-centred rear arch. In the south wall is a modern four-centred doorway; it has wide inner splays, which may indicate an earlier doorway or an altered window. The second story has a small round window—probably a later piercing—just below the string-course on the south side, and a loop-light to the vice. The bell-chamber has two-light windows like the lower west window. There are about a dozen reset carved stones in the tower walls; these include beast-heads or grotesques (perhaps gargoyles) in the middle of the intermediate string-course on each face, a number of human-head corbels, mostly defaced, one of them a woman's head with a 14th-century head-dress, and a half-hexagonal base of a niche carved with a priest's or monk's head and shoulders. Also a small trefoiled ogee head of a light now reglazed for the vice. The font and other fittings and furniture are modern. In the quatrefoil of the south chancel-window is a 14th-century white and yellow angel with green wings, holding a censer. The infilling is of ruby glass. There are three bells: the second by Newcome of Leicester 1612, the other two by Thomas Hedderley of Nottingham 1783 and 1785.

The history of Shustoke Why were the reservoirs created here?  In 1870 the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, as was the birthrate and the need for clean water was becoming more pressing.  The Birmingham Water Works Company therefore applied to Parliament for  permission for water to be taken from the Rivers Bourne and Blythe, whose gathering grounds in rural areas to the East of Birmingham were declared to be away from pollution, and to impound the water from the Bourne in a reservoir which was built at Shustoke.   A pumping station, filter beds and another small reservoir was also constructed at Whitacre. What was here before? Before the reservoir was built, the land was occupied by Whitacre Lodge which was part of the Hams Estate. This was sold by Lord Norton in 1879, for the building of Shustoke Reservoir.       How long did it take to build the Reservoirs? The time-scale granted for this work was 10 years and although most of the work at Whitacre was completed in the time scheduled, an extension of five years was applied for in 1879 as the reservoir at Shustoke had hardly been started; the eventual completion was around 1884.         What is the Reservoirs role in the water supply network? When the reservoirs were built they were to supply water to the nearby Whitacre Treatment Works, which was to provide 28 million litres of water daily to Birmingham. As the city grew this soon became inadequate and with the completion of the Elan Valley scheme in 1904 Whitacre was relegated to standby duty. In 1908 Whitacre was recommissioned to supply water to Coventry to supplement the local borehole supplies. In the 1050’s Whitacre also started to supply Nuneaton and now about 10% of the water from Shustoke supplies Coventry with the rest going to Nuneaton and the surrounding districts of Bedworth and Atherstone. Where does the water come from? The water is gravity fed by the nearby River Bourne which runs along the north of the two reservoirs. How deep and big are the reservoirs? The reservoirs consist of a settling pool of 7.8 acres and a storage reservoir of 92 acres.  Combined they have a capacity of around 460,000,000  gallons.

Nice pub here too... looks like a good place for a rest stop