Happy Easter from Cherry Lakes

As I mentioned in my last update, I am finding this lock-down period very odd. I should be enjoying having the place to myself and be able to fish whenever I want.....but I am not. Cherry Lakes is not the same without our guests and we are very much missing you. Judith and I very much hope you are all staying safe and are not too badly affected by this very strange period, both from a health and economic perspective.

I continue to be very worried about the economic impact, particularly on the young, of our collective response to the virus. It is not easy to see how we are going to 'return to normal' given this virus will be with us for a long while. Waiting for a vaccine is not the answer as we will not have an economy left and the country will be flat broke if we do.

I hope we will see some relaxation of the current lock-down by early May. We have got to get the economy going again. As soon as some/all of our guests can travel we will open. We continue to believe Cherry Lakes represents a relatively low risk environment for our guests from a Coronavirus perspective and you can practise both self-isolation and social distancing very easily here!

Along with everybody else we have had some stunning weather at Cherry Lakes this week and the best Easter Weekend weather that I can remember in a long time. The place is looking fabulous as Spring develops. We have worked hard over the years planting a great deal of attractive trees, bushes and flowers to make the place look beautiful for our guests and it is such a shame not to be sharing it with our guests. The photo above of the Cherry Springs bank which is opposite Kingfisher Lodge hopefully gives you a sense of how nice the place looks.I always love seeing the Bird Cherry Trees in bloom, which make a fantastic backdrop to the colour of the Cherry Springs river bank.

As you would expect given the bright sunshine and warm days, the Carp have been sun-bathing all over the complex and enjoying 'their holiday'. I have had to work extra hard as I have needed to feed the lakes every two days. Normally fishery manager Dave does the bulk of this work.....but given the circumstances I have had to take over with all the feed preparation and cooking as well as the feeding itself. It is heavy work.....for a 'life long pen-pusher'...... as well as being expensive! Still I am sure the Carp are feeding well as well as welcoming the lack of angling pressure.

Several days before the lock-down my daughter Victoria came home along with her long term boyfriend Ben. It has been lovely (one of the few real upsides of this lock-down period) to be able to spend so much time with them both. They are fortunate they can work from home, so they are both out of our way most days as well as being with us in the evenings etc.

Ben is showing great promise. Not only have I had him power washing the Cottage patio, he has asked to go fishing!

Initially we started for a few hours on Cherry Pool, where he caught Roach, Perch and Bream on the float. We then spent a night camping by the lake (Ben and Victoria had the two man bivvy whilst I had to 'make-do' with an oval brolley!), and early in the morning Ben caught his first ever Carp. A classic 'wood-carving' Mirror of 14lb, pictured below.

Yesterday afternoon we spent a few hours on Cherry Mere. the conditions were not great given the strong sunshine, but I wanted to spend some time watching the lake and having a few beers with Ben. We did have a few beers, at least a couple of which were to celebrate Ben's first twenty.....a very good looking Common of 21lb, pictured above. As you can see from the photo both Ben and Victoria were very pleased. As I said before Ben shows great promise and gets my vote!

We hope you have a Happy Easter. Please take care and stay safe and we hope to start welcoming you back to Cherry Lakes in May.