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.

I used the Dorcan leisure centre to attend the canoe club which meets there on Wednesday evenings…read more Have to be honest and say I have never seen such a small pool and was quite amazed that canoeing really does take place there. But once in the water it proved to be more than adequate and I had great fun. Staff at the front desk were helpful and friendly. The changing facilities for the pool were more than adequate, however the area between the showers and changing area is open for all to view so more of a rinse off type shower facility than wash and go.

Dorcan is my local leisure centre in Swindon. Although small compared to the Link centre or Oasis i…read morelove it all the same. The swimming pool is quite small- but it does its job. I use the complex mainly to play badminton- it doesn`t get too crowded and the staff and equipment are good. There is plenty of parking and the facilities are opened till late. You can also hire out the courts and astro turf pitches. The facilities recently had a renovation so it's even best to use now!

The Activity Zone used to be run by the local authority and a couple of years ago almost closed,…read morebut following local protest the leisure centre was taken over by DC Leisure and hopefully they are having more financial success with it as we need to keep our leisure centres open - particularly in rural communities. Ok rant over. The Activity Zone is a good sized leisure centre with one main hall, on squash court, modern gym (currently being revamped) and 2 fitness studios. There is also a 25 metre pool with moving floor (can turn one half into a paddling pool for the little ones!!!) They offer all the usual kids activities and DC Leisure has a swim acadamy for the kids. Included in the price of the lessons is free swimming at any of 4 other local leisure centres - so a good deal. Especially as I have joined the gym so we can all now go swimming for no extra cost. (When I was member at a private gym, I still had to pay for the kids which would come to £8 - that's why I cancelled!!) Finally they also offer school holiday clubs for kids aged 5-13 (I forget the upper age!). My boys loved it, the oldest gets to go swimming every day and the girls who help love my youngest so he gets spoiled!!!!

Excellent little leisure centre. But would benefit from more local clubs.read more

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).

I visit this leisure cente regulary with my daughter and she just loves it it just has tons to do…read more There are 2 swimming pools one large that is really cold! and a smaller learner pool which is dead warm and quite shallow so fantastic for kids to play and learn to swim in. The pools themselves are clean and safe and are well supervised but the changing rooms could do with some work and some heating would be great! there is also a new soft play area which all small children would love and its nice to chill out after an exhausting swim. The cafe has a bar aswell and serve a good reasonably well priced range of paninis and fairly traditional british food. all in all this is a nice usually quiet leisure centre that is great for kids

A friendly small centre with a large swimming pool that holds many events. although it isn't the…read morecleanest of places and is used by the neighbouring secondary school.

The pool is a lovely feature in Cirencester, on those occasions when we do actually get some sun!…read moreIts well supported and rightly so. Its open during the summer and is a perfect place for a cool off, to sunbath or read a book. Highly recommended.

Cirencester open air pool is the main summer attraction of Cirencester. It attracts people from…read morepeople in the surrounding towns and villages. It is really cheap to get in, and great fun. The pool is kept nice and clean and there are food facilities on site. There are changing rooms which are normally kept tidy. It is definitely a place people should try and go for a day out if they live in the surrounding area. There are plenty of picnic benches and space for sunbathing. I definitely reccomend it for groups of friends going together, or families planning a nice day out in the summer months.

Pretty good soft play centre, with pay as you go charging instead of the one off entrance fee most…read morecompetitors go for. Opens at 10am every day, so best to get there for then to beat the crowds, then you can get a coffee at one of 2 or 3 cafes dotted around, and browse the shops and garden centre.

This is a soft-play area inside Studley Grange Garden Centre.. in amongst all the craft shops…read more Great location although probably difficult for those who have no means of transport other than public as there are no bus routes that way and there is no footpath to get into Studley Grange. This would be no good for the older kids. But for toddlers and smaller children it would be perfect. There are two sections, each section has tables for the adults to sit and relax. There is a security gate to stop any children from escaping. One one side is a little climbing area, a see-saw, a ball-shooter.. and on the other side is a big area for babies and toddlers to play in, plus a big ball-pit with a slide and other fun things. You pay for the time you spend there and it's usually calculated by the half-hour. So if you decided to pop in there for an hour, it will work out cheaper than if you went to Kidz About or Jolly Rogers for an hour. Café facilities are good, they don't do hot food although there is a bigger café in the building that does do hot food. Staff are always lovely and friendly.