Just a 15 minute drive from Dyer’s Holiday Cottage near Halifax is the beautiful nature reserve called Ogden Water. Accessed from the A629 Keighley Road, near the Moorlands Inn, it offers a variety of paths and trails to explore, some of which are suitable for a wheelchair or buggy. Dogs are allowed, there’s parking, picnic tables and a public toilet. Pay for parking at the Visitor Centre (opening hours vary). Owned by Yorkshire Water, and managed by Calderdale Countryside Service, the reservoir can hold over 220 million gallons of water but this is seasonal. Ogden Water covers over 34 acres and is reputed to be the first clay lined dam to be built in Europe when it opened in 1857. It has a maximum depth of 20 metres and this water is supplied from several streams and waterfalls tumbling down the hillside from the moorland above. However swimming, paddling etc is strictly forbidden.
For more about the history take a look at www.ogdenwater.org.uk
