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Ideal for a sunny day. And for a cold rainy day: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".
A canal reservoir of 1811 with a sandy beach, a miniature railway round it and Ruislip Woods behind, free, and no swimming.
Parks & commonsWildlifeFree
John Rennie dammed the valley for the Grand Junction Canal Company and the reservoir opened in December 1811 as a feeder for the canal seven miles away, a job it did badly, the water fouled by the flooded land, and gave up in 1851. In 1933 it became a lido with an Art Deco pavilion by George W. Smith, boats for hire and a walled swimming enclosure, and in the war the RAF used it to teach aircrew from Northolt how to survive a ditching. The twelve-inch-gauge railway opened in 1945 and now runs a mile round the water and through the woods. The lido buildings went in the 1980s, but the beach is still there and so are the woods, a National Nature Reserve of old oak and hornbeam coppice. Swimming is forbidden: the water is cold, deep in places and full of old ironwork.
Opens 9am; closes at 4pm in winter and as late as 9pm in August
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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.