Rutland Water Sykes Lane Car Park — Local services in Great Britain

Despite being in the Midlands and the furthest place from the sea, the Sykes Lane area of Rutland Water has a man-made sandy beach!

On a rare hot British Summers day (Tuesday), we decided to take some time off, prepare BBQ stuff and have a picnic. Sykes Lane has designated BBQ areas and ample space to safely burn your food, al-fresco.

Despite it being a Tuesday, the schools were out for summer, so it was busy with families and young people, but there was still plenty of space for all.

They had a designated swimming area that was great and no deeper than mid-chest height for me (at 182 cm/ 6ft).

There is a small cafe onsite, selling snacks and Ice-creams and there are toilets attached to the visitor centre. The parking is ample, but expensive at £2 per hour.

The only downside was the smell. In the heat there are the remnants of some kind of shellfish that littered the beach and their decay permeated the area with a funky odour. They are also razor sharp, so I would recommend flip flops or some kind of...

There was plentiful parking here with stewards since it was extremely busy with visitors.

However the toilet facilities were woefully inadequate - there were 6 female toilet cubicles for thousands of people who were there today for the beach, walking and cycling. I visited the toilet upon arrival and departure and each time there was a huge queue and at least one toilet out of action.

With each car paying to park here and expecting associated facilities, it's really not good enough. Please up your game...

Car park is the nearest to the A1 junction. Plenty of parking, has toilets and cafe. There is a "beach area" here in the reservoir shore. I already start here when biking round, there are no bike hire facilities here, but they are available at 2 other car parks around the trail. The trail itself is around 17 miles, most easy going, with a few step hills, I always go west towards Oakham when biking round, think this way is slightly easier, with 3 other car parks en route with facilities plus a nice...