Well, I'm a bit embarrassed, fancy not spotting a stream in a place you've lived in for nearly twenty years. Not having a car for a while has meant that I've had to walk everywhere and I've been discovering loads, it's like being a kid again. Today I discovered a stream. In the middle of part of the St Austell sprawl, I was walking along Sandy Lane which is an absolute nightmare of suburbia, estate after estate, cul-de-sacs, modern developments, picket fence after bird bath after paved driveways as far as the eye can see. Suddenly I heard running water, looked over what I thought was someone's garden wall and discovered a stream running under my feet. WTF. Where did that come from? I grabbed my OS map and discovered that yes, there was a stream and better yet a green dotted line along it. So off I went. Two minutes later I discovered a massive chimney! Blow me down, a dryer, right in the middle of a housing estate.
I continued to explore along the path of the stream and it's lovely. There is a good path beside it as it weaves between everyone's back gardens. It's a totally urban stream and yet has a tiny strip of the countryside within it. There are no shopping trolleys or tyres, instead, there are flowers and willow trees, birds and I bet small mammals. How lucky are the residents that can go to sleep listening to a babbling brook running through their dreams all night long?
I got home and looked up some old maps, sure enough, there is the valley, free of houses but alarmingly full of mine shafts. Not sure how much I'd want to listen to sounds in the night trying to decide if it was the stream or my foundations :D
Anyway, a really enjoyable little explore.