So this is where it all started...the beginning of a rather bizarre love with swimming pools as a…read moreplace for fun - the memories of youth - I remember the excitement when this leisure pool originally opened in 1976 - it wasn't a rectangle it was round! What was this madness? Half the pool was too shallow to actually swim in and it had waves. This was the very first time I had encountered a "leisure" pool - oh trend setting, thoroughly modern Swindon you have so much to answer for - (along with the famed "magic roundabout"). I still return here with the kids every time we jump on a train to visit my wife's family. It is a great pool but looking distinctly tatty round the edges now. The domed roof desperately needs renewing - it looked spectacular 30 years ago but putting that aside its still super fun. The pool itself is beach style with a separate small kids pool. Good kids pool with 3 slides plus pirate ship.... The main pool has a steep three lane multislide and a new long slide circles inside the building (77m long). But really it is the flumes here that count and these are top. The Domebusters have a had a refurb this year and one of them has been replaced. All are approx 100m in length.So first off The Sidewinder A fairly gentle, spiralling flume aimed at younger children and parents. You can sit or go head first. The Great White My favourite - heads first ONLY never seen that on any other slide! Normally feet first everywhere.... A fast ride with two small vertical drops and several twists and turns. The Storm The new this year straight fast flume - small circumference with a striped lighting effect and sounds.. Didn't get to try this out this time - but will be back to do so....busy with an under 5... The session time was only an hour - which is really not long enough and it is fairly expensive considering the stingy hour. There are not many reasons to visit Swindon but this is definitely one if you are a water slide fan or the kids love to swim. . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update So I came back to try out the new flume which I hadn't managed to try out last time. Managed to slip away from a family visit for a couple of hours with my teenagers. Interestingly GLL have taken over the management of the leisure centre since we were here in 2012 (they run most of the pools we visit in London). It had been spruced up a bit with the new corporate livery...but still the stingy session times. We took no notice of the session times and made good use of the domebuster slides. So The Storm was the main attraction - small tube, dark, with striped lightning and fast with the descent as a helix. A big thumbs up from the family - a great slide but not in our top 5 slides. The Great White remains the favourite - head first you can pick up some proper speed and fly over the steepest vertical drops... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oasis is a great place to take the family swimming! They have a huge laguna pool that boasts water…read moreslides, a wave machine, a smaller pool for the children and a big water sprayer. They do a range of different classes such as mother and baby Swimming, OAP Swimming and also offer swimming lessons. They have also just started doing gigs with people such as 'The Sugababes' 'Cascada' and 'Shayne Ward' perfoming there.

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

This is a really nice sports facility where you get a welcome as soon as you enter. There is ample…read moreparking facilities on site and the opening hours mean you have little excuse not to go and utilise your membership. The reception staff are fantastic, I really feel that nothing appears to be too much trouble for them. The facilities on site are good, occasionally, I have found the water in the pool to be a little cool, but thats maybe me. The changing rooms are always immaculate and they offer good facilities, there are lots of hairdryers and it reminds me of a spa in there. The gym itself is well laid out and is a comfortable temperature for your workout, it has never been too busy and I have never felt that I have been looked down upon for my poor physique - whereas some gyms you feel uncomfortable. The staff are all really friendly and helpful and after your workout there is a really nice restaurant which serves really nice food and really tasty coffee.

The Link Centre has it all…read more Swimming Pool Sports Halls Outside 5 a side pitches Squach Courts Ice Rink Climing Wall Bar Cafe There's probably more than that - but I think you get the idea. My boys attended the Hi5 Kids club in the holidays and were very impressed - they were allowed to use most of the facilities - so it felt like a treat for them not a childcare solution! The ice rink is home to Swindon Wildcats ice hockey team. Another reason to visit!

I have only ever used the Link centre for its swimming pool, which is gala size (25m with 6 lanes)…read moreand is great for swimming training. The changing facilities have a lot to be desired, very small and cramped with not much locker space available. There is an amazing climbing wall available here to all those climbers out there. They also have squash courts and a large ice rink. This is more of a competitive sports centred leisure centre than a fun day out kind of place. If you want to train/exercise, this is the place to be.

Yeah, good very fun insanely expensive though an absolute rip-off but I had a really good time so…read moreI'll give it four stars

When I was a kid this was like the coolest thing you could ever do for a birthday party. Three…read morepools, rapids, loads of flumes, a pirate ship, a raining cloud, snakes that shoot you with water, palm trees...I know! How awesome is that! As a kid this experience is totally a 5 star, pee in the pool with excitement experience, there is a little cafe where you can have chips and fizzy pop with your friends after hours of fun in the pool. As an adult, it holds all the excitement but doesn't quite deliver. We are grown-ups after all and a big plastic snake is only believable up to a point. It's worth it if you really like flumes though as they are pretty fast. I was call in advance first as sometimes they don't have enough staff to have them all open at once.

splash splash! At least that's what I would have been doing if I could find a slot to be able to go…read morefor a fun swim. The pool is open pretty much 12 hours a day but the majority of that time is taken up by lessons, classes or lane-swimming. No fun for those like me who just want to have a bit of a splash around when the weather gets too hot. I tried lane-swimming and it wasn't too busy in the summer but during term time the pool is full of fish! It's very cheap though- only £3 and you can stay in the pool all day if you have nothing better to do.

This leisure center has a swimming pool, gym and all sorts of courts available. It is cheap to go…read moreswimming and the gym is around £20. The private courts for tennis, badminton and football are quite cheap if you split the prices! Also there is a cafe right at the top overlooking the pool. Great for that after work-out snack!

I used to love this place as a child, it never gets old though! The swimming pool is brilliant, it…read morehas waves and water choots. There are lots of lockers aswell to keep your stuff in while you swim and the changing rooms and showers are clean. The prices are alright, but i would say it is definately worth trying out the pool.

Set in the rather lovely surroundings of Stratford Park in Stroud, the leisure centre is a little…read moredated on the outside, but does provide fantastic (and under rated) facilities for the population of Stroud. I've been a gym member for about 6 months now (prior to that, I hadn't even visited the leisure centre!) and I think it's a little gem. There's a good range of classes (including an excellent yoga one on Tuesdays) and a nice clean indoor pool (and an outdoor one for the summer).

Burnham Swimming Pool has recently been bought from the council by private buyers and has…read morere-openned as The Swim Sports Academy. Since re-openning the changing rooms are much improved and there is a Star Bucks attached. The new staff are very welcoming and classes such as yoga and spinning are available. I do feel, however, that there is a bit too much focus on swimming lessons and classes. I use the pool just for public/ladies swimming and often the times when I can use the pool are restricted or half the pool is cordonned off for a class.

I think that Burnham Swimming Pool is a brilliant asset for our town. I was very pleased when it…read morewas bought buy private owners recently and saved from closure. They now have a starbucks coffee shop where you can sit and watch the swimmers they also have yoga classes which are good as it is normally hard to find spaces in yoga classes in the area. The only downside of the new ownership is that there are alot of swimming classes / groups and private hire times so when I just want to go for a swim I am normally limited to half the pool being closed off which is a shame - I think they should focus more on us people who just want to swim not do aqua arobics, lessons etc.