Both the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph have reported on a project known as Challis Island, an artificial pirate-themed island in the middle of a reclaimed lake in Cambridgeshire. None of the news reports give way its exact location, other than the simple fact that it’s in Cambridgeshire. But where exactly is it?

Well, for those who care, it’s on the edge of an industrial estatte just north of the village of Waterbeach, near Cambridge. Here’s a Google Maps satellite picture of the lake prior to the work.

And how do I know this? Anything this large requires planning permission. So all it takes is a search on the relevalt local authority. This is the full planning application. (If you want to copy and paste that link anwhere else, use http://tinyurl.com/lkvj579 as it’s shorter).

(Hat tip to Alan Wylie for discovering this, by the way).

I have to say that I love the idea of the island, although I do wonder just how piratey it’s going to feel for most of the English non-summer.