Lakeside Country Park is a country park just south of the town of

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. The park covers 60 acresEastleigh Borough Council: Lakeside Country Park
Accessed 2 July 2014 and is home to the Eastleigh Lakeside Steam Railway. The park is on the site of old gravel workings, with

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s formed from

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...

s. As well as the lakes themselves, the park boasts

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

s and some young

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

. The park is bounded by the Eastleigh urban area to the north, the

A335 road List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island ...

to the east, the boundary between Eastleigh and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

to the south, and

Monks Brook Monks Brook is a river in the English county of Hampshire. It is a tributary of the River Itchen, which it joins at a medieval salmon pool in Swaythling. The brook is formed from seven streams that rise in the chalky South Downs, with the of ...

to the west.

Eastleigh Lakeside Railway

A dual gauge / light railway was established in the park in 1992, originally as a temporary layout.Eastleigh Lakeside Railway: History of the Railway at Lakeside
Accessed 21 September 2007 A more permanent track was laid down in 1993, as the railway company was granted a three-year lease. Five years later, a longer lease was negotiated and construction began on the two stations, Eastleigh Parkway and Monks Brook. They were opened in 1999, although further work on the layout itself was carried out in 2000. A

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

was added in 2003, and Eastleigh Parkway station was extended in 2005 with the addition of a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

and shop.

Water sports centre

In 2014 funding was approved towards the replacement of the lakeside buildings with two new buildings with improved toilets and changing facilities, storage, offices and a multi-purpose function room. The estimated cost of the scheme is £2.5 million, of which £1 million had been allocated from the New Homes Bonus and £371,000 from the Eastleigh Local Area Committee. The new buildings were completed in late 2016. Open water swimming clubs have been run from the venue since at least 2010, and, as of 2017, swimming sessions are currently operated by HOWL Multisports.

References

External links

HOWL MultisportsPictures of The Eastleigh Lakeside Railway
{{Hydrology of Hampshire 7¼ in gauge railways in England Country parks in Hampshire Miniature railways in the United Kingdom Borough of Eastleigh