County walk: Ladybower Reservoir

Welcome in the New Year with a waterside wander around Ladybower enjoying reflections aplenty along the way

- Sally Mosley

ROUTE

1 Exit the car park at Fairholmes Visitor Centre and follow the roadside pavement to a lay-by parking area with bus stop opposite, then turn left by a footpath sign and information plaque.

Follow the woodland path as it twists and winds through deciduous and evergreen trees where needles and leaves fall in autumn to carpet the floor in a Monet-like pattern of amber hues, creating a mulch of goodness that enriches the soil ready for spring. Fungi flourish here as do wild flowers and small mammals.

Gaps through the trees along the way provide views over isolated farmsteads on the opposite side of the valley with Derwent Edge towering above. Look closely and you can just make out rock formations on the horizon such as the iconic Salt Cellar and Wheel Stones.

At times trees to your left stretch right down to the water’s edge, some of them dipping their roots like extended toes into the brink. Their trunks and canopy of branches above often reflect on the surface of the reservoir.

Ladybower was officially opened by George VI in September 1945. It was a remarkable feat of engineering and continued the line of dams from Howden and Derwent to supply Sheffield and the East Midlands with water. The villages of Derwent and Ashopton were demolished in the reservoir’s wake, their residents re-housed at Yorkshire Bridge. The three reservoirs hold a combined total of nearly 10 billion litres of water. Up to 200 million litres per day are supplied to Bamford water treatment works. Water overflows or is released from Ladybower to maintain the flow of the River Derwent and there is also a tunnel to Rivelin to allow water from Derwent Reservoir to supply Sheffield.