According to the Swindon Borough Council's website, the Coate Water Country Park was built as a 56-acre reservoir in the 1920s as a headwater tank for the Wilts and Berks Canal.  Nowadays it is a park with all sorts of activities going on - from a miniature railway to swimming to a Splash Park to mini golf.  Alternatively just walk around the lake and enjoy the abundant wildlife and beautiful scenes; the site has been declared a Site of Specific Scientific Interest in order to protect its wildlife and its wildflower meadows.

Next to the car park is Reservoir House which was built in the 1820s as accommodation for the water bailiff, but is now used as the Ranger Centre and Information Point.

These photographs are shown in the order we took them - once out of the car park we turned left and went for a short walk along one side of the lake, then retraced our steps and continued along the right side of the lake until we came to a copse.  At this point we had to leave but hope to return to take more photographs another time.