Rudyard Reservoir was built in 1800 to provide an adequate water supply to the region’s canals. It wasn’t until the second half of the century, however, that it was commercially exploited as a major tourist attraction, thanks to the fast-growing popularity of boating and picnicking among the Victorian middle classes.

Entertainment on the waterfront

In its heyday, the waterfront would have been awash with holiday-makers escaping from the smoggy industrial towns at weekends, with a funfair, bandstand and dance floor for the adults, and carousels, slides and swings for the children. Ice skating was very popular in the winter, when fairy lights were hung from trees, and great fires on the shore enabled night skating and dancing. The reservoir was also the scene of some amazing spectacles. In June 1861, the memorably named African Blondin walked over the reservoir on a tightrope. (He was a pupil of the great Charles Blondin, renowned for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope.) And in June 1877 a poster records that Captain Webb gave a ‘representation in miniature of his cross-Channel feat', after he became the first person to swim from England to France two years earlier.

Kipling connection

However, it was at a Victorian picnic in April 1863 that the reservoir’s name was assured its place in literary history, when renowned pottery designer John Lockwood Kipling met his bride-to-be Alice Macdonald. History has it that the courting couple spent much of their time here and were so fond of the memories that they named their first son after the reservoir. Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay on 30 December, 1865 and spent his first five years in India, before being sent to England to stay with a foster family. After finishing his schooling he returned to India to work as a journalist on the Civil and Military Gazette, but during his spare time he wrote the first of the poems and stories that would later make him famous. He went on to write many more, including his most famous poem, If. Despite his popular and critical success, Kipling declined many of the honours that were offered to him, including a knighthood, Poet Laureateship and the Order of Merit, but in 1907, aged 42, he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature.

From the car park, which is at the far end of a potholed dirt track off Beat Lane, take the left fork underneath the obvious bridge. Follow the wide, gravel bridleway along the shore, with a mini-gauge railway just to the left (see While You're There). Continue towards the end of the reservoir.

Nearing the end and just after the Lakeside Loop signal box there’s a short track to the right of the main path up to a scenic picnic area. After this cross the dam at the head of the reservoir (a pay telescope gives wider views).

From the visitor centre and toilet block head away from the reservoir up the footpath beside some prominent black railings (not the vehicle drive through the wide gate). At the top is a metalled road. Turn left to reach the Hotel Rudyard, otherwise turn right and then fork left at The Crescent, after which the road becomes a gravel track. Where the track veers right, take the narrow footpath straight ahead (avoiding the private road into the caravan park). Just after the brow of the rise is a junction of two paths. Fork right, then go straight ahead along the road. Go downhill and left on a path before a private drive. At the far end turn right onto a road. Continue above the shore until it becomes unsurfaced at Rudyard Lake Sailing Club.

After 400yds (366m) along the wooded path, cross the stile into a clearing with views over the water. The path eases gently uphill to a gate with a chain, which signals your arrival at the vast Victorian pile of Cliffe Park Hall.

Continue past the building and down the gently sloping drive. At the far end turn right onto a small, surfaced road, back towards the reservoir. Go over the stile beside the cattle grid and continue around the end of the reservoir to the car park.