The paddling beach has been closed since 29 June after illness reports linked to the lake. The council says it stays shut until at least September.
The paddling beach at Southwater Country Park will stay closed until at least September, the council’s notice on the park says, which means it has been shut for the whole of the school summer holidays. The rest of the park is open as normal (Horsham District Council, Southwater Country Park).
The notice is blunt about the fence: “Please DO NOT climb the fence or attempt to enter the water at this time.”
Why it closed
The council shut the beach on 29 June as a precaution. It said it had been told of illnesses that may have been linked to going into the lake, with the first reported from 25 June.
On 1 July it issued a fuller statement. A council spokesperson said it was working in conjunction with the UK Health Security Agency, and could “confirm that there have been a number of notifications of illness believed to be related to entering the Southwater Country Park lake since 25 June 2026” (Horsham District Council, Southwater Country Park Update, 1 July 2026).
The council did not publish how many people reported symptoms.
The same statement set out why the water is a problem in a hot, dry summer. The lake is rainwater-filled, with no inflow and no outflow, so nothing flushes it. It is untreated, and the council said its water quality is “variable”. A long dry spell and two heatwaves had, it said, created conditions in which bacteria can thrive.
The council has run the park for more than 40 years and said this is the first time it has closed access over water safety.
What is still open
Everything except the beach. The park opens daily from 8am until dusk, at Cripplegate Lane, Southwater, RH13 9UN, and the cafe, visitor centre, Dinosaur Island play area and the paths round the lake are all running.
Organised watersports also continue. The council said the only permitted use of the water is through the watersports operator, which “provides managed access to the lake, based on a thorough risk assessment with mitigations in place”. It added that the risks from swallowing lake water have not gone away.
Southwater Watersports says on its own site that it is open seven days a week, 9.30am to 4.30pm, until 2 September. It also says its phone line is down and asks people to email info@southwaterwatersports.co.uk instead (Southwater Watersports).
Fishing is unaffected. Lennoxwood Lake is fished on a day ticket sold bankside by the warden team, and Castlewood Lake is members-only through Southwater Angling Club (Horsham District Council, Southwater watersports, fishing and cycling).
What it means for you
If you were planning a paddle over the bank holiday weekend, it is not happening at Southwater. Plan for the park, not the water.
A few practical points:
- Parking runs 9am to 6pm every day between 1 April and 31 October: £1.20 for up to an hour, £2.40 for one to three hours, £3.80 for three to four hours and £8.00 all day. There are three car parks, and the gates are locked at 10pm.
- The car parks have height barriers. The council asks anyone that affects to email parks@horsham.gov.uk before travelling.
- Dogs must be on leads across the whole park from March to September.
- If you think you have been made ill after swallowing water from the lake, the council’s advice is to contact your GP or another clinician and tell them you have been in the lake, so the case can be passed to the UK Health Security Agency.
The council has said it will use the closure to review “the longer term options for the use of and access to the lake”. It has not published a date for that review, or a firm reopening date. We will report the decision when it appears.
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