Exploring Aylesbury – Watermead

Watermead is almost 40 years old and has matured well, although a few parts look a bit run-down, particularly around the hotel and health club. It was an interesting look at the village, which I’ve only briefly looked at before.

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[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Applause] Well, welcome to Waterme on the outskirts of Alsbury. Technically a village because it’s got its own parish council. Um, building work started in the late 1980s, about 1987 if I remember. I used to live in Buckingham Road, so I saw this uh these green fields all carved up. Um, this was my my playground. And it was quite soul destroying to see it all uh bulldozed. But um as you can see, what’s been created is quite beautiful, isn’t it? I’ll just move along a bit. To think all of that there used to be a field. And right up on the hill there is uh houses in Weeden. And I’ve got a photograph taken from a similar spot in the 1960s by my dad who was uh walking over here. And uh in that photograph, you can see the the houses on the hill there. But look at all this change. Eh, you don’t see sheep in the field anymore. It’s all water. Anyway, let’s have a look around and I’ll show you uh various bits of the village. Uh and we’ll see what’s changed over the years. So this is where we start really for waterme garden court hotel. Um it’s seen better days to be honest because uh just here was a nice ornamental garden and as you can see it’s pretty overgrown now. Um if you go back on uh Google street map um you can see probably 10 years ago it looks all right but uh it just looks like they throw the lawn mower over it and leave it at that. I don’t bother with uh keeping the pathways clear. And this here is uh Reflections Health and Leisure Center. And again, just as with the hotel, this has seen better days. As you can see, this is a um artificial grass. What is it? Yeah, it is, isn’t it? I think uh still overgrown. I can’t tell, but uh a pitch anyway. And uh obviously over there with the fences was a tennis courts. But uh yeah, it’s looking really rund down, isn’t it? Yeah. Right. Let’s uh have a look further up. So just past uh Kids Inc. children’s nursery and just through here uh is the band stand. Really nice tranquil spot here. Uh this is the smaller lake on the other side of the road and uh it’s prone to flooding. I’ve taken a few shots over here when it has done. But what a lovely spot, isn’t it? But let’s have a look um down here a bit. Oh, you can’t actually go through there. Okay. But uh through here, lovely little walkway, kids, uh playing area. Isn’t this lovely? Eh, very tranquil. Lot of swans over there and a heron in the middle I can see. Right, let’s go and explore the rest of Waterme. This is the only pub on the uh in the village. I keep wanting to say estate. Oh dear. So, here’s Lakeside. Now, all these houses look like uh Toy Town, I think they used to call it when it was first being built, cuz they look so fake, the architecture. I’m going to see if I can find a way down to the uh the water’s edge. So, we can have a good look down there. A lot of the names of the places, uh, well, we got Lakeside, but, uh, Field Fair was just back there and, uh, Pippet Gardens, all named after birds. The Heron leading to Osprey Walk. Some of the first houses were down here. Nice motor. Let’s have a walk up here. So, various times I’ll show you some photographs of uh this all being built. And there’s the water median again. Hampton vets. And across there is the uh former ski slope. Quite amazing. I don’t know how deep the uh the lake is, but uh all the spoil that came from it is up on that ski slope, so there’s not a lot of um depth to it, I would say. Um when it opened, there used to be uh jet skis on here, but the residents complained of it. Ain’t that typical, eh? It was supposed to be sort of a sports and leisure complex with housing around it. Now, that used to make a hell of a noise ripping up and down here. Right, let’s have a look further on. That’s a lovely Mustang, isn’t it? Right, let’s go. I might as well have a look around. by the plver. What’s down here? Yeah. Oh, look at that garish blue. Yeah. Heat. I suppose it’s a bit better than normal, isn’t it? I mean, given that place I looked at before, um, around Gate House and Bister Road, those houses were horrible. They really were. But, uh, these look a lot more cheery, don’t they? Mind you, they’re worth a lot more. Let’s face it, a lot of these are semi- detached, aren’t they? Look at the size of them with a garage. Double garage some of them. So they’re not cheap. What’s down here? King Fisher. It’s quite an adventure for me. This is I’m Alsbury born and bred and I’ve never been down here. Never ever. Yeah, there’s a lot of uh footpaths that go where does this one go? through to another place. Can see me getting lost. That’s all part of the fun, isn’t it? Well, these look a bit lighter, don’t they? Yeah. Wonder if any have got a date stone on. Can’t see any dates on them. Won’t linger too long cuz people wonder what the hell this bloke’s doing. Cycling around here. Things that What’s that up here? Well, we’ve reached the fields. So, I’m going to follow this around and it’ll take me back to where I was earlier. thing with waterme they kept adding to it bit by bit I mean up here look these are all these are different aren’t they very different totally different design there. It still goes on. If you’d like to support this channel by leaving a donation, please go to buy me a coffee at this address. Thank you. Still Kestrel Way. Right. So, I happen to know that up that footpath there and a clump of trees uh used to be a property called Dunham House, one of the uh houses of the Dunham Farm estate. And we’ll see a bit later that uh junction lane a bit of that is used for waterme. [Music] Uh we’ve been down there. Let’s go up here. So this is gold crest. So, that’s one half of water to me done. Now, we’re going to have a look at uh the other half of it, which is over that way. So again we’ll see different phases of uh building style stone chat again named after a bird We’ll just have a look down Redwing. So, I can see the band stand down there. Yeah, lovely. Let’s have a look up here. Another statue. Now I’m assuming I can cut through here. Get them caught. Okay, maybe not. I don’t know what’s up there. It said lakeside. All right. Turnstone way reminds me a bit of Fairford Lees because the way the the roads twist and turn. It’s not like a straight through route, you know, so stops people speeding about the place. So turn around again. Bitturn way. Ah have a set way. So where I am now is roughly where Dunham Farm was. I’ll show you on this old map actually see it. Right, we’ll turn left up here at L Vail. [Music] That’s Morris Miner. Bullfinch Gardens. out onto here. Oh, Christ, there’s a bus coming. Oh, weren’t expecting a bus to come up here. Oh, he’s actually going up there. Okay, number six. Right. So, where I am now, this uh bit of road that goes through Watermel is actually Dunham Lane. Uh and you can see it on the old map where it does a a right turn from this section up here. So, just here is Dunham Lane. So, that brings us to the end of the video about Waterme. Uh, it’s been a long time since Dunham Lane or this section has seen any farm traffic on it. Um, many many years. So, it’s been quite interesting, hasn’t it, having a look around. I don’t know what I’m doing next, but uh thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.