Melbourne Lodge

Campus West

by Willettsworld

Campus West is a venue for theatre and cinema which was opened in 1973. The complex is also home to Hertfordshire's only purpose built skating rink - Rollercity, some art galleries and conferencing facilities. However, for cinema's, it's probably best to either go to Stevenage or Hatfield for multi-screen complexes.

http://www.welhat.gov.uk/cw

An early garden city

by colin_bramso

"A new idea in urban planning"

My family lives in and around WGC so we visit quite often but I haven't taken photographs before this last trip. Even so I didn't take many - I'll try to do better on future trips so that I can build the page properly.

WGC was built in the 1920s on empty land as one of the first of the garden cities, experimental new towns planned to be built in agricultural areas and limited in size. A revolutionary idea at the time, they would combine urban and rural living.

The original central area is beautiful but it's sadly now surrounded by a sprawl of industrial areas and cheap, ugly low-cost housing estates.

From the railway station in the centre of the town it's an easy half hour trip into central London.

The station has been developed to include a large shopping mall and the town centre itself has a variety of shops, including a John Lewis department store, and cafes.

Stanborough Park

by Willettsworld

The Lakes at Stanborough Park were opened in 1970. They are manmade and were built as a result of gravel extraction at the time of the building of the A1(M) Motorway, although the thought of a riverside park had been considered since the Master Plan of 1949.

There are two lakes located either side of the A6129. The Boating Lake (the north lake) is 4.6 hectares in size and is shallow. It is fed by water from the River Lea that flows through the park on its way to Hertford and eventually flows into the River Thames in London. The Sailing Lake (the south lake) is 6.2 hectares in size and is ground water fed and deeper than the north lake. Many water sport activities take place here, including sailing, windsurfing and angling.

The lakes are visited by and provide a home for many animals. The Sailing Lake was originally stocked with bronze bream, roach, common carp, mirror carp and perch. These species are still found, along with species such as rudd, tench, crucian carp and chub. Stanborough Park is home to a variety of different waterfowl. These birds include the Canada goose, Domestic goose, Mallard duck, Swan, Coot, Moorhen, Gulls and Great crested grebe. I also saw a large grey heron when I visited.