The Caspian Sea, though not considered a lake by some hydrologists, is the world's largest inland sea.
(If you crave privacy, there are a half dozen two-bedroom villas with their own 40-foot pools, though none has a lake view).
Worth it, though, to see lake after lake arranged below you in every direction, and off to the east the great range of the High Peaks.
In a surprise, Ms. Peterson's stepfather, Ron Grantski, said he, too, went fishing on the morning of Dec. 24, the day Ms. Peterson disappeared, though he went to a lake near Modesto, where the Petersons lived.
Most of what you now see is farmland or woods, though there is still a lake, and hints of former splendour survive in the summerhouse and orangery close to today's Redlynch house, which consists of two blocks, one formerly the coach house, handsomely remade as a residence by Edwin Lutyens after a fire, said to have been set by suffragettes.
I fail, but I make two holes in four, and I'm particularly pleased with one lengthy tee shot - even though it ends up in a lake.
Though the Stimacs initially wanted a lake house for a second home, "I figured my daughter would want to go to the water park, and I'd go to the water park anyway," said Mr. Stimac, the owner of a vending company, who paid $330,000 for a unit that sleeps eight.
To some people, though, the lake also suggests something mysterious.
For now, though, the lake remains one of the rare wonders of Russia.
