Chestnut Pool: 13-06-2026 to 20-06-2026

Chestnut Pool is a very picturesque little fishery situated in something of a bowl, meaning it doesn’t get very much wind. My mate (and his wife) and I fished it in June, so we had some very warm weather, even at night. But despite that, the fishing was good. I fished the shallow end where the aerator is situated and had 21 fish over the 6 days. I had carp up to 23lbs and the big catfish to 65lb-plus (I couldn’t determine the fishes exact weight as the scales provided only went up to 60lbs). But the majority of carp were in the low teens or single figures. My mate also had plenty of fish out from the deep end, though not as many. But the size of his carp were better. He had one carp to 35lbs, and others at 26lbs and 27lbs. He also had both catfish out. As has been mentioned in previous reviews, the cradles and landing nets are not sufficiently good for optimal fish care. I had one carp that ripped open a landing net and escaped and then had to be landed again in a second landing net while holding the first. This was reported to the owner at the time but not remedied while we were there.
There is a steep walk down to the pool from the accommodation which requires a reasonable degree of stamina when carrying all your fishing gear down. There is a second gate, however, that would allow a vehicle to be driven down to the pool to facilitate unloading, especially if a tree that has fallen across the route was removed. When it came to leaving we asked Tudor if we could drive down as far as the fallen tree but despite several attempts, he couldn’t remember the code for the padlock.
The accommodation was good overall. It was clean and well appointed. However, we booked Chestnut Pool because it offered a second toilet and shower block outside the main accommodation. This was important because one of our party has a condition that can cause them some anxiety if they can’t get early access to a toilet. In addition, an outside toilet means that those fishing at night can go to the toilet without disturbing the occupants of the main accommodation. That said, when we raised this with Tudor he arranged for a cleaner to attend the property reaosnably promptly to clean the outside toilet so it could be used. The other thing that concerned me was the presence of a cctv camera INSIDE the accommodation located in a hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom, and I question why it needs to be positioned here. There is nothing of value in the hallway and anyone disposed to cause damage would be more likely to do so in the adjoining lounge and kitchen area. The presence of this camera is not advertised anywhere either, so we didn’t spot it until nearly at the end of our stay.