Yateley Complex facts for kids
The Yateley Complex is a special place in Yateley, Hampshire, England. It's a big area with gravel pits, which are places where gravel is dug out of the ground. But it's also famous for its many fishing lakes! A company called CEMEX runs the complex. Their fishing part, CEMEX Angling, looks after 11 lakes and even a piece of the River Blackwater. These waters are full of different kinds of fish. About 5,000 people who love to fish visit Yateley every year. This complex was also home to a very famous carp named "Heather the Leather"! Besides fishing, some of the old gravel pits have been turned into sports fields.
Fishing Fun at Yateley
The Yateley Complex has many lakes where you can go fishing. Here are some of them:
- North Lake
- Sandhurst Lake
- Pumphouse Lake
- Summer Pit
- Tree Lakes (there are two of these)
- Nursery Lake
- Split Lake
- Match Lake
- Car Park Lake
One lake, Horseshoe Lake, is only for watersports. No fishing is allowed there.
You can also fish in the part of the River Blackwater that flows through the complex. The lakes are stocked with many types of fish. You can find carp, bream, tench, rudd, catfish, roach, pike, and perch. In the River Blackwater, you can fish for silver fish, carp, and barbel. Many anglers love this place, with around 5,000 visitors each year.
Some of the lakes are very well known. The Car Park Lake is famous for its carp fishing. Sandhurst Lake even won an award for being the "Best day ticket lake in Britain." You can visit Sandhurst Lake for a day of fishing by getting a ticket from the Yateley Angling Centre.
Heather the Leather: A Famous Fish
The Yateley Complex was home to a very special carp named Heather. She was about 50 years old and had no scales, which is why she was called a "leather" carp. Many people called her "Britain's most famous fish." Heather was one of the oldest and biggest carp in the United Kingdom. She weighed about 52 pounds (23.5 kilograms)!
Giving Back to Nature: Restoration Efforts
After gravel is dug out from the pits, the CEMEX company works to restore the land. They have found different ways to use these areas again. Besides making them into fishing lakes, some gravel pits have been turned into sports fields. These fields are used for cricket, football, and hockey. CEMEX gave these fields to the local council so they could be used as a park for everyone. Because of this great work, the site won an award called the Cooper Heyman Cup for restoring gravel pits.
In 2007, CEMEX offered more land, about 5 acres (20,000 square meters), to the Yateley Town Council. This land was meant to be used for allotments, which are small plots of land people can rent to grow their own food. The council did not accept this land, so CEMEX offered another site in 2008.
