Willen Lake

Willen Lake is a visitor attraction and public park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire^[1] The site is owned by The Parks Trust, an independent, self-funded charity that cares for and maintains over 6,000 acres of green space across MK.^[2]

Willen Lake

Location	Milton Keynes
Coordinates	52.05467°N 0.72106°W / 52.05467; -0.72106
Owner	The Parks Trust
Operated by	Whitecap Leisure
General manager	Robert Wood
Operating season	Watersports March - October Splash Park April - October Treetop Extreme Year-round Benugo Bar & Kitchen Year-round Park Year-round
Attendance	850,000/year[citation needed]
Area	138 hectares
Website	https://www.willenlake.org.uk/

Willen Lake is Milton Keynes's most popular park,^[3] attracting in excess of 750,000 visitors a year.^{[citation needed]} It comprises 180 acres of landscaped parkland which surround around 100 acres of water across two lakes.^[4] Both lakes are balancing lakes, designed to mitigate flooding from the River Ouzel. The southern lake offers a wide range of activities on and off the water,^[5] whilst the northern lake offers a more natural and tranquil setting, ideal for quiet walks and spotting wildlife. There are large events held on the site throughout the year, including Comedy Central's FriendsFest ^[6]

Attractions

Operating

As of 2024^[update], the activities area of the park (to the West of the South lake) includes of a number of leisure attractions ^[7] including:

• Watersports centre (new centre opened 2021)
• High ropes course
• Children's outdoor playground
• Children's outdoor splash park
• Inflatable aqua park ^[8]
• Ridable miniature railway
• Outdoor fitness equipment
• Health club (including hair and beauty salon)
• Seasonal Funfair
• Large events spaces
• Observation wheel
• Change Please Coffee Shop, a social enterprise ^[9]
• Premier Inn hotel, with bar open to non-residents.

Since January 2010, Willen Lake has also been the location of the Milton Keynes parkrun, which currently starts just to the West of the lake, then follows the Grand Union canal to Great Holm, before making a complete loop of the South Lake and finishing by the Watersports Centre.^[10]

Geography

Nipponzan-Myōhōji stupa, Milton Keynes

The Nipponzan-Myōhōji temple in Willen, Milton Keynes

The lake is one of the largest purpose-built stormwater balancing lakes in the UK. The lake is designed to take surface run-off from Milton Keynes, the largest of a number designed to do so. The lake has capacity for an additional level increase of 1.3 metres, equivalent to a once in 200 years event. Unlike most of the rest of the UK, Milton Keynes has separate storm and foul sewers, so sewage pollution is not a significant problem.

The lake is surrounded by a mixture of open parkland and woodland, which forms part of the wider Ouzel Valley Park.^[11] The lake is divided by an embankment and bridge carrying the A509 (H5 Portway), which runs between the east and west of the city, providing links to M1 Junction 14 (approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north-east), and Central Milton Keynes and the A5 (approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the south-west, respectively).

Beside the North lake is the Peace Pagoda and Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist temple.^[12]