Page 50 of Wild Swimming at Croftwood Lake
‘That’s great news,’ said Seb. ‘Shall we go and take a look?’
They strolled across the estate to the lake.
‘This was a fishing lake, built by my father,’ said Archie.
‘Did it ever operate commercially?’ Ben asked.
‘Not officially but I know my father used to run a fishing club. That’s why we have these fishing spots, the wooden platforms, dotted around the edge.’
‘Ah, I see. The lake itself wouldn’t have needed permission but if you’re planning to operate it as a business, that would. Are you opening it commercially?’
‘Not as a fishing lake,’ said Seb. ‘We’d like to open it for wild-swimming.’
‘Oh, fantastic,’ Ben said, surprising them both. ‘My wife is in a wild-swimming club, but they’re based north of Worcester, so it’s not that convenient. She’ll be thrilled about this.’
‘Does that help our cause?’ Archie asked.
Ben laughed, as if that was a joke. ‘Ha! Nice one.’
‘We’re planning on reinstating the gate over there,’ Archie said, pointing over to the wall, now visible because the hedge had gone. ‘The small brick shed will be the entrance where we’ll check people in and out and we plan to build a wooden canopy on the side for a bit of shelter and for people to change under and leave their things in the dry.’
Ben made some notes but didn’t comment.
‘We’re thinking of buying a sauna and a Finnish barbecue shed. It’s basically a hexagonal hut with a firepit in the middle,’ Seb said.
‘Okay. You’ve given me plenty to go on. It’s the perfect setting for it, I will say that,’ Ben said. ‘I’ll be honest, the permission to use the lake for swimming will be determined on whether the site can cope with the expected traffic. When you submit the application, be sure to give us an idea of what you’re expecting and how you’re going to deal with parking, and think about how much traffic that lane can manage.’ He pointed to the boundary wall with his pen. ‘The sauna and shed can probably be classed as temporary structures which makes things easier, but it’s as well to include everything in the application so that we get a clear picture of what you’re aiming for overall.’
‘So you don’t think there’s anything that might cause a problem?’
‘I don’t think so. You don’t have any neighbours. That helps. Get the application in and I’ll do what I can to assist.’
‘That’s great, thank you. Much appreciated,’ said Archie shaking Ben’s hand.
At that moment, Nora appeared over the wall. She froze as they all turned to look at her.
‘Is this your first customer?’ said Ben, clocking the fact that Nora was wearing a dry robe.
‘This is my girlfriend, Nora. Nora, this is Ben from the council planning office,’ said Archie.
‘My wife’s got the same dry robe as you,’ said Ben. ‘I think she’d love it here.’
‘There’s a small group of us that meet here on a Thursday morning at seven-thirty. She’s welcome to join us if she’d like to. The others park in the lay-by along the lane and climb over the wall just there,’ Nora said.
Now it was Archie’s turn to freeze. He had no idea if it was against the rules to allow swimming in the lake before they had planning permission.
‘Thanks, I’ll mention it,’ Ben said, grinning.
‘I’ll walk you back to the office,’ Seb said, leaving Archie and Nora at the lakeside.
‘He seemed nice,’ Nora said, as she started to strip off.
‘What are you doing here? I thought you’d have been already.’ It wasn’t ideal to have been caught in the act by the planning officer.
She shrugged and smiled. ‘I’m not working today so I had a lazy start. For some reason I was feeling a bit tired. Aren’t you?’
He couldn’t help smiling. She was giving him a look that left him in no doubt that their night together was to blame.
‘On the contrary, I’m having rather a productive day.’
