The future's bright

We spent this afternoon investigating the project to restore the Stroudwater and Thames and Severn canals in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Work is under way to bring back to life a six-mile stretch from Stonehouse to Brimscombe, for which £18 million has been secured.

Recently the highest-profile work to date began in Stroud town centre. A temporary section of road was built to take traffic around the works and now huge cranes are on the site building a bridge under which the restored canal will run.

While we were peering through the security fencing, past dismantled road signs and old benches and at massive piling machines, we were invited to a visitor centre for the Cotswold Canals Trust.

The centre actually opened to the public today, and impressive it is too. We had the pleasure of the company of one of the volunteers, who explained the project in detail and talked us through a slideshow of the route.

Once this project is completed, the area will have a gem of a tourist attraction. Seeing narrow boats navigating locks and bridges along this route will be a joy.

Sadly, by then (2013) we will probably no longer be living in our present house, which is literally a few yards from the towpath.

But it will be well worth coming back to see.