Before the marina was built Willington Lake was a private fishery, enjoyed by a few solitary fishermen but hardly anyone else. Now it is a bustling destination, very popular with boaters, holidaymakers in the luxury lodges and casual visitors coming to marvel at the largest inland marina in Europe. It is also incredibly popular with wildlife!
The actual construction work began at the start of 2008 whilst the marina opened in September of the same year. As you can imagine, there was a huge amount of planning done in the 2 years preceding the start of the work, designing the marina, obtaining planning permissions and the like.
The design of Mercia Marina marked a revolution in the design of marinas. Rather than digging a big hole and filling it with boats, the natural contours of Willington Lake were retained and enhanced and islands as well as promontories added. This created a much more natural waterscape than the norm, for the benefit of both visitors and wildlife. The revolution extended to the quality and extent of the services available to customers (we are very proud of our ‘Paul Smith’ style tiles!) and the huge investment in landscaping has certainly paid off. Finally, it was also recognised that people like to visit marinas and so plans were laid at an early stage to provide walks, shops and restaurants.
The wonderful thing about narrow boaters is that they come from all walks of life, from stars like Harrison Ford and Timothy Spall to your next door neighbour, but they all have in common a love of the British countryside and a desire for independence, freedom to roam and to see the world from a different vantage point.
- See more at: http://www.merciamarina.co.uk/about-us/#sthash.vGy7Byrh.dpuf