While visiting my sister-in-law in London, we took a short drive to a great little beach around a lake called Ruislip Lido. We did not expect to find places like this around London, but were pleasantly surprised!
One of the things I find really cool about England is how easy it is to navigate to most places using GPS having only a zip code. For instance, we put HA4 7TY into the GPS, and it took us right there. One thing to note about the parking at Ruislip Lido is that it is a bit expensive. There is a parking lot near a pub outside of the beach area, and it is like 5 quid for the first hour or so. I can't remember exactly how much for more time, but to be fair, everywhere is expensive to park in London.
Even though there are red flags warning that there are no lifeguards on duty, it is kind of beside the point because swimming is always banned in the lake. According to the official website swimming is not permitted for multiple reasons, including that the shock of cold water makes it difficult to swim and get out of the water. I guess that's a good reason.
I probably would not want to get into the water anyway. I imagine all kinds of crap must be in there, including broken glass and who knows what else.
Here you can see 
For sure, the best thing about the beach is the awesome array of playground equipment. As you can see, there are multiple swings, slides and really cool pirate ship shaped climbing frames.
We happened to go on a weekday so we mostly had the place to ourselves. On the weekend this place is absolutely packed with people. Also, they have lots of vendors selling various food items, but only on weekends. It's a tossup for me, because I think I'd rather just come on weekdays while little Rick is still small. He can get a bit overwhelmed when there are a lot of bigger kids around.
I really enjoyed the walk around the nature path leading to and away from the beach. I was told that you can actually walk around the entire lake. I don't know if it is paved, or just a trail. Perhaps I can try next time.
The little one particularly enjoyed digging around the sand in this little ship wreck. There was also a workable crane arm that you can use to dig up sand and dump it out. I don't know how I managed it, but I didn't seem to get a single photo of it. It was probably the coolest gadget there. I suppose I was too busy playing with it to take a photo!
I imagine that this water park is pretty active on the weekends. Nothing was on while we were there. I don't think it would make much sense to run it for the 5 families that are there at any given time on a weekday.
It was kind of funny how as soon as we got to the lake, my first comment was "This looks like a man-made lake."
Everyone with me was basically shaking their heads, saying "No, there are lakes everywhere, it's natural, blah blah" like some kind of weirdly misplaced pride. I walked over to the sign, and sure enough, it states that the reservoir was dug in 1811 to supply drinking water.
It makes a lot of sense. It reminded me immediately of a reservoir in Elizabethtown, Kentucky called Freeman Lake. It serves the same purpose, essentially. Also, the sand looks completely out of place here. But nothing wrong with that, it's a perfect little beach!
The pirate ship was by far
We also came across a caged in area under the road. I suppose this is where they keep the guard dragon? I wonder if the water ever rises to this level? I'd hate to be trapped in there when that happens!
Some of the views are just absolutely gorgeous. I never grow tired of the beautiful English countryside. Even when it's in the middle of London!
This area of London is extremely expensive to live in, and I can understand why it is prime property. My sister-in-law is an officer in the US Navy and is currently stationed nearby. The house prices around where she is living are comparable to some of the more expensive areas of Los Angeles. At first I couldn't figure out why, but then realized that we were a five minute walk from the Underground which will take you anywhere in London. So to be able to get to nature and into town easily from home is pretty much the gold standard for high value property.
I would likely be coming down to Ruislip Lido most weekends if I lived nearby. It is a great place to go if you've got some kids. You can let them run around and play on the beach and playground while you kick back on one of the benches and have some drinks or a snack. Be sure to check it out, if in the area!
