Rudyard Lake, near Leek, Staffordshire

Rudyard Lake is an artificial lake created between 1797 and 1800 as a reservoir for the local Caldon and Trent and Mersey canals. It became a popular local pleasure resort from 1849 onwards with the opening of the North Staffordshire Railway, which ran along the lakeside. It is now a centre for fishing, rowing, walking and sight-seeing, with boats for hire, signed walks, pleasure cruises and fishing permits all available. There are hotels and other accommodation nearby.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries thousands of visitors would be disgorged each weekend by the trains - many of them from local towns such as Leek, Stoke and Macclesfield, but others from all over the country. These included the parents of the poet Rudyard Kipling, and they were so entranced by Rudyard that they named their son after the place.

After World War II the number of visitors declined and the closure of the railway in the 1970s added to this, though the Lake is still a popular spot for local tourism, walking and fishing.

The lake is owned by The Canal and River Trust (successor to British Waterways) and run by The Rudyard Lake Trust Ltd, who operate a visitor centre and car park at the south end of the lake, where there is also a sailing club. A narrow-gauge railway (the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway) runs for 4 km along side the lake along the track of the former North Staffordshire Railway and steam trains operate at weekends from the middle of March to the end of October.

The Canal and River Trust recommend Rudyard Lake as a particularly good place to exercise your dog. See this link for more details.