South Cerney has a range of local amenities including a Post Office and newsagents (known as South Cerney News), Londis general store, hairdressers, Indian restaurant/takeaway, fish and chip shop, a pharmacy and a dental surgery. There are 3 public houses in South Cerney, The Old George, The Oak and The Eliot Arms (which also has accommodation). There are also other bed and breakfast facilities available in South Cerney such as Meadow Cottage.
You can also have a round of golf at the 18 hole South Cerney golf course on the edge of South Cerney village, near to South Cerney Airfield
South Cerney has a growing business community with many companies occupying the industrial and business estates that have built up on the outskirts of South Cerney.
South Cerney is in the heart of the Cotswold Water Park and only a stones throw from lakes where you can sail and fish.
For more information on the Cotswolds, visit the Cotswolds web site
Cerney Wick is also just a short distance from South Cerney and is home to The Crown and Trinity Church.
Cotswold Water Park
The Cotswold Water Park is made up of over 140 lakes that have been created by gravel extraction. Thousands of years ago an ice sheet that covered the Midlands began to melt, turning into rivers. These rivers and streams took with them sand and gravel, depositing them up to 20 feet thick in places.
These sand and gravel deposits lay relatively undisturbed until people began to excavate these resources in the early 1920s. As a result the area was left scarred with huge hollows and pits. Water began to naturally fill these pits, turning them into freshwater lakes, and the area now known as the Cotswold Water Park was born.
Over recent years these lakes have increasing become popular places where anglers can fish, water skiers and jet skiers can ski, sailors can sail their yachts and walkers can enjoy miles of countryside walks.
The Cotswold Water Park has become a renowned conservation area, several of the lakes are now Sites of Scientific Interest, and large numbers of waterfowl breed and winter here.
In recent years holiday villages and holiday homes and housing developments such as those found at the Watermark Club and the Lower Mill Estate have sprung up around some of the lakes offering a range of differing accommodation including wooden chalets with gardens bordering the lakes.
As a result of this explosion of activity over recent years, the local villages have become more popular and South Cerney especially has thrived. It was a pretty enough village in its own right, but has always been in the shadows of its more famous neighbour, Cirencester
South Cerney Church and St Edwards College
The South Cerney church contains a beautiful carved wooden head and foot of Christ, taken from a crucifix in Compostela, dating from the 12th Century.
At the end of Silver Street in South Cerney is St Edwards College, founded by Anne Edwards in 1834 (the primary school in South Cerney is called Anne Edwards School) to house the widows of clergymen. And in nearby Station Road, an attractive row of gabled cottages dates from the 16th and 17th Centuries. The remains of the some of the old railway line can also be found in this area of the village.
A Thriving Village
All in all, South Cerney is an area to watch. Residents and visitors have seen its popularity and nearby facilities increase greatly over recent years but South Cerney itself still has the charm
of a Cotswold village. Industrial areas have sprung up on the outskirts of South Cerney, bringing even more requirements for housing and a large estate was built on the land sold by Aggregate Industries some years ago.
And with the ever increasing interest and demand for "leisure pursuits" being as strong as ever, it seems that the area will continue to grow in popularity for many years to come.
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