A truely enjoyable way to spend one of the (sadly rare) hot summer days when not at work. Bring…read moresandwiches, cold drinks, plenty to read and something to sprawl on, and prepare to be transported back to the 1920s in this perfect example of an old fashioned Lido. The site is low tech, with baskets instead of lockers, creasoted wooden cubicles and benches (gorgeously warm in the sun), and is without the slides and playthings seen in many places. It is a long pool at 100 yards, and the deep end is actually in the middle. Half is usually roped off for lane swimming, while small children and families cluster at the two shallow ends. The water isn't the warmest you'll find (although it is heated), but once you start swimming, it is refreshing. The long benches soak up the sun and are usually full of people sunbathing, talking and generally enjoying themselves. Word of warning, it does get crowded so on particularly hot days arrive early.

On of the largest open air pools in the uk (possibly the largest), it is unheated and as such only…read moreopen in the summer. Their defination of summer is very generous though... I have been swimming there at the end of september!! It is very popular on a warm summers day, on other days it is used by the strange type who train for triathlons. Generally a good day out where others swimmers are friendly and very cheap too.

great place to swim and has plenty to do get fit also have…read moreMassage has been in northampton for at least 30 years great place to go enjoy

Abbey suffers serious competition with Parskide so close, and is a very good example of public…read moreswimming pools at their most depressing. It may be fine if you want to swim about and refresh on a hot day, but I wouldn't recommend it for lane swimming - provided you manage to be there when there actually are lanes, otherwise it feels like a video game, trying to avoid the bathers coming at you. It's also one of the most slippery pools I've ever seen, both on the floor and in the water: trying to kick back against the wall becomes an exercise in not twisting your ankle. The absence of a handle or something along the wall also makes cold-starts much less pleasant. Ear plugs are vital, if only to block off the noise echoing from all over the place and, while the changing rooms are relatively clean and functional, do NOT, under any circumstances, forget your oxygen if you intend to use the gents' toilets. The one redeeming feature is that there is a lot of free parking available - whether this is important in a city where everybody cycles or walks is irrelevant. In short, this is a valid place for casual swimming, but if you're after something more regular (and much nicer), spend the same amount and go to Parkside instead.

I went swimming today and the sides of the pool were clean!!…read moreDid someone read the review? It was so much nicer.

After a recent refurbishment my daughter and I have been coming to bottisham pool once a week for…read morelessons. We have found the pool to be lovely - it is warmer than most pools it is quite shallow, but long enough to swim a good length. The changing rooms are nice with a big open area, and also several cubicles if you would rather change in private - the same set up with the showers, - some cubicles, and then an open area with several showers in it. The only drawback here is when the sports centre is busy the car park seems to be slightly too small, - you then have to drive onto the playing field and park in the mud - which wouldnt be a problem in the summer, but at this time if year can get quite messy. Overall a great place to go for a swim!

Can you keep a secret guys?? Not many people seem to have noticed it yet, but a year and a half…read moreafter the Olympics there's some exciting stuff going on in Stratford again... Yep living near the Park is paying off nicely at the moment - my new local council swimming pool is none other than the Aquatics Centre! It's been open to the public for the last few weeks and I have to say it's a pretty special venue - I still get tingles every time I walk in. It's £4.50 per swim session for an adult and there's an easy peasy online system to book in advance. There are 2 full size pools inside - the Competition Pool for the hardcore swimmers and the Training Pool where they separate the lengths into two 25m sections. Personally I found a 50m pool to be ridiculously long in real life (my superwoman stamina is a err work in progress) so I tend to do laps in the 25m lanes. You choose a pool and a start time online but it's pretty lax once you're in, and you can stay as long as you like. The water is a nice slightly warm temperature and it's usually a uniform 1.2m depth all the way along (though somehow they can change the depth of different sections - the mind boggles!). It's not all lanes - there are also sections of the pool roped off for 'fun' as well as swimming lessons. Also saw signs for a total wipeout stylee 'Splash Time' for kiddies at weekends that sounded like great fun if anyone wants to lend me a child?! The reason it misses a 5th star is that the changing rooms and shower facilities are just not that great. It's spacious yes and there are plenty of cubicles, hairdryers and lockers, but the layout is a little confusing (quite a wander from the lockers to the female showers), they seem to have too many staff/cleaners milling around not doing much, and the showers themselves seem temperamental and need you to wave a hand past every 3 seconds. Is this how Michael Phelps showered?! (*pauses to enjoy the mental picture*) Ahem. Yeah I expected better. So remember to bring your own towel+toiletries, a plastic bag for your wet cozzie (I haven't spotted a drying machine yet) and a £1 coin for the lockers. And please only tell your special friends - the nicest thing at the moment is that it isn't too busy on weeknights! See you there :)

The swimming pool itself is great, most of the time quiet, you can choose your line depending on…read morehow fast you want to swim so that you don't get disturb by other people while swimming. The changing space however is really poor for this kind of aquatics centre - you can really tell you're just meant to come, quickly change, swim and leave. There are few showers and they are quite temperamental. The lockers and cubicles are just not that comfortable to use. So it's a very good pool, but come there for exercise only and not hoping for a full spa experience!

These guys are great! I have always wanted to learn how to swim since early childhood, but never…read morehad the courage. My mother made an appointment without me knowing and I just had to go and try it out. Just a week after I was as happy and free as a dolphin in the water and I could swim quite well. Really friendly instructors and very understandable and encouraging behaviour. Thank you guys!

Extremely disappointed in the service extended by David Lloyd. We have been members for one year…read moreand due to personal circumstances with the health of our child, decided to cancel our family membership. Despite numerous cancellation notices, they refused to accept acknowledgment of our requests. Uncaring, unempathetic and unfeeling approach to customers. I would not recommend this gym.

A fairly decent sports centre offering various workout machines as well as swimming, with very…read morepolite staff. However, the workout machines are often always in use by someone, and the selection is quite limited, probably due to the space taken up by the pools. Also, membership is very expensive, and although it's a great rival to Fitness First, it does have less machines, fewer classes, and more costly, also, a Fitness First membership can be used in most Fitness First gyms worldwide, and they have more facilities than any other gym network. If you don't do swimming and you can get to a Fitness First, it is the better choice. The staff is helpful though, and I know the gym manager here personally. If it's local to you, you've got a bit of money to burn, or you can't make it to a Fitness First, then this is definatly the place for you, and you will enjoy it, but if you're willing to look into alternatives then Fitness First comes more recommended.

The Oasis swimming pool is on the sea front in Sunny Hunny. Very popular with holiday makers in the…read moresummer. It has a main pool and a smaller pool with slides - great fun for the kids. The whole pool is a bit aged now and the outside pool is to be closed. During the winter they often have an ice-rink at the Oasis (outside) as well.

This was the first new pool we visited this summer as part of our annual search for the best pools…read morein reach of London. Not sure how we heard of it but it came recommended so we jumped on a train to Bedford from St. Pancras and 36 minutes later were stepping out into blazing sunshine. Perfect day for a swim. We found the bus station and a bus that would drop us out of town to the pool. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a large Tesco next door and just one bus an hour. The pool itself is housed in a striking pyramid shaped building with various ponds and water features dotted around. No slides snaking outside which was a little disconcerting as that what we were coming for. Inside we found a great family fun pool with two slides reached from a central tower. The 55 metre 'yellow screamer' and the 45 metre red turbo 'flume of doom'. The red one is the quicker of the two and a solid slide - the yellow version a bit tame for us now. At the bottom of the slides they have a digital display that flashes up your speed and how long it took you to go down the slide - a nice touch I thought and not a feature I have seen anywhere else. The slides aren't the reason to visit though....there are much better options available elsewhere. This pool has a lazy river that snakes in a circle oustside the pool. In the summer months they open a door way and you can swim out into the sunshine and boy was it hot! We had struck lucky...water jets propel you round the route and yes it was busy but not uncomfortably so. Inside the rest of the pool is typical beach style so perfect for little ones. They have a separate quiet pool with bubble beds. Main pool has a decent wave machine, various jacuzzi pools, jet pool and a couple of swim round the island rapid streams. Really good mix of mushroom showers and underwater jets propelling you around. This is a well designed pool with plenty to do over a couple of hours. This is really great pool for under 10s that are confident swimmers - worth the journey - if the sun is out we will definitely be back. Decent changing rooms and showers. There is a cafe which is less great but fine for picking up a post swim slush puppy - I would avoid the coffee. We took a picnic and found a shady spot under some trees outside.

I take my kids here and they love it. It is around fifiteen pounds for a family ticket, which is…read moregood value, as you can stay in as long as you like. it has two slides, a wave machine and a number of Lazy River type attractions, where you get pulled around by a current. My kids love the one which takes you outside in a loop, but be warned the current is quite strong, it can be hard to get out of the loop!! There is a large communal changing room which was clean. On the last occasion we went, I took them to the cafe afterwards. it served the usual kid stuff, chips and nuggets. it wasn't too expensive, I would say it was on a par with McDonalds. Good for a rainy day.