Is having a pool and nice weather overhyped?

[Keithlemondrop]

I have really got completely obsessed with the idea of moving somewhere with sunny weather and where pools are the norm. There is NOTHING i love more than lazing around a pool on holiday, barbecuing and socialising with friends/family.

The world is really our oyster as both dh and I have very in demand jobs. And our kids are young. I sit in my bikini in my garden on a warm day but it’s just not the same. I know you cant out run your problems but a pretty garden and pool wouldnt hurt is my view.

Have I just overhyped this in my head? It just seems a wonderful lifestyle. Putting on a sundress on a Saturday morning and then going to do a big bbq food shop, followed by a day lounging by the pool seems like HEAVEN. Or is it just a bit of a novelty to me.

Do you live somewhere like this? What is your experience?

My work allows an amount of working ‘from another location’ each year (actual location depends on tax and legal implications obv) but I’m considering taking my kids somewhere hot with a pool etc. for the 6 week summer and I’ll work by the pool while they swim and have fun. Could you do something similar for a while to see if you enjoy it?

I grew up in California and had a pool, as did most of my friends. As children, we went swimming all the time. But none of the adults ever did. I can’t remember my parents or any of my friends’ parents ever go in the pool at all. In fact, when my dm bought her current house she filled the pool in to save on maintenance costs.

I'd love a swimming pond. Pretty pond when the weather is cold, but as soon as the sun's out I'm jumping in.

Gosh I can’t imagine having a pool and not using it! I’d be in it every day..! I have to go to my local lake to get my outdoor swimming fix.

I had a conversation about this last year with a friend who was living overseas.

Her view was that yes, having a pool and (for about nine months of the year where she was) hot weather was certainly very nice, but also that she found she certainly didn't spend anywhere as much time sitting out, barbecuing and swimming as people would expect. Essentially, even at weekends, living somewhere like that is not like being on holiday. She was in a European country where kids have school on Saturdays, for a start, so Saturday wasn't that different from weekdays, and she was working full time, so her and her husband still had all the same chores and housework and shopping at weekends that they did in England - and her children both had clubs/sports at weekends and so on.

She also found that the summer heat meant that they spent quite a lot of the afternoons indoors with the air-con going in the hottest months. So while she absolutely agreed that it was lovely to have a pool and that they certainly did have some lovely times eating outdoors and so on, it wasn't anywhere near as regular a thing as you might think.

We live in Sydney and have a pool. We also have an outdoor kitchen with bbq and pizza oven and a Balinese gazebo and palm trees in our garden which makes the place feel quite resort like so obviously our life is not spent lounging by the pool but we do it enough to make us very glad we live where we do. Our kids grew up either hanging out in our pool with their friends or at other people’s houses doing the same, a very different childhood to mine.

We live somewhere with hot summers and very cold winters (near a ski resort) and I love it - it is not overyhyped. I love getting up each morning to sun and not feeling that if I can't spend that day in the sun, I may miss out on the good weather, or planning trips out and being confident that the weather will be good. The kids practically live in the pool from mid June to mid September- definitely NOT a case of "it hardly gets used" and only in mid sept when the overnight temperatures start to drop and they return to school, does it lose the appeal (yet in late May, they swim in what is effectively recently -melted snow)!

But we live overseas, we have had to learn the language, we are along way from family and as much as we are the only English people in our village and our children (currently) attend a local school, not an international one, our core friendship group is essentially comprised of expats (albeit most are not British). The transition from summer to winter (and back again) is also a lot of work as the way you live in summer v winter is utterly different (it is a 60 degree temperature change). So it is quite a bit of work in spring and autumn (which incidentally are stunningly pretty - so that helps)!

I really hate airconditioning all year round too. Necessary but so wasteful.

My dsis lives in Spain. Whilst the lifestyle sounds appealing, she works FT and still has to look after the kids, clean and walk the dog. Her dh works away a lot. Kids in after school clubs.
they really only use the pool and go to the beach when they have friends and family over or when they’re on leave.
id imagine it would be better if you were a sahp who could get all the jobs done during the day, pick the kids up after school and then enjoy the pool/ beach.

Surely it depends what you mean by 'relaxing' though? Relaxing can be different for different people. For some people it might be sitting in the sun by a pool. For other people it might be something completely different. Presumably you must have things in your life that you do for enjoyment?

Yes, I mentioned them upthread.😊 I got bored by the pool and constant hot weather.

You need to look at the southern states then, we are buffered by the gulf stream here in the UK, you get much more snow in the US at the same latitude.

We're in Oz and I refused to look at any properties with pools. Definitely a too-high PITA to pleasure ratio for me. If you don't keep on top of the cleaning and chemicals it's unhygienic or a bleach pond. If you don't cover it it's full of leaves and wildlife. If you do cover it you have to uncover it to use it which is a faff. You have to have full child safe fencing all around it but even then you have to be very on top of where the kids are and what they're doing ALL the time because kids are clever and backyard pools are unfortunately the cause of tragic drowning accidents here every year. And you are essentially on constant lifeguard duty when the kids are older and want to have pool parties. Plus Australia has melanoma rates that are horrific and lounging by the pool is really not an option for very long if you have pale skin,unless you are fully covered, and then it's too hot.
Sorry to be a fun sponge!!

I do think the sweet spot is having a house in a complex that has a shared pool, where your quarterly fees pay for upkeep etc. and it's not right in your garden. Much better.

We are in Suffolk and had an above ground pool for a few years and the kids were in it constantly, right through lockdown. They had the best time. I regret getting rid of it now. It’s a faff to clean and maintain but also weirdly soothing and satisfying. Plus awesome for hot flushes.

I grew up in California, so lots of pools. Interestingly, we did not have a pool ourselves, but belonged to a club with a pool. Going to a club was easier & more social - learned all my card skills! Pools are expensive & have to be maintained. There is also a real drowning risk - one of my most vivid memories is jumping into my uncle’s pool to save a cousin from drowning. Hence we ourselves did not have a pool. I would say they are very under-utilised in California.
My most recent house purchase in UK had a pool. I got rid of it PDQ.
Given your situation (esp re English speaking, otherwise I would suggest Portugal) maybe try to maximise holiday time in villas, south of equator in winter, etc.

Hardly the same though is it. Smoking and drinking on a regular basis wouldn't be good for you. In fact why on earth would you smoke heavily because you're on holiday? Bizarre.

I've never seen the soprano's - I'll have to watch it!.
Took me ages to work out that filling the pool up rather than chasing them around yelling at them would help them get out.

We live on the Salento in Italy. It's actually the three seasons other than summer that I love. Cold and sunny is great. A pool here is necessary as far as I'm concerned. Most people have a small pop up one, to cool down in, but we're only a quick blast to the sea, so we do that most evenings. No chance I'm moving back to Yorkshire, though I miss the greenery, and the reservoirs.

I lived in Australia as a young sun worshipping adult and to my surprise got fed up with the endless sunshine. Like you, it was joyous to come back to seasons

I live in western NY, where we have cold winters but also guaranteed hot summers. Plenty of people around here have pools, but almost everyone I know who has one complains about the maintenance. They pay for a company to open the pool at the beginning of the season and close it at the end to ensure the chemical levels are correct and it doesn’t turn into a swampy mess. You have to test the chemical levels most days to ensure it’s all balanced, plus make sure it’s clean and remove any debris. You either pay a fair amount for a heated pool, or you’re much more limited in when you can use it while you wait for it to naturally warm to a reasonable temperature. I would probably be willing to put up with all of that because I think my children would absolutely love it, but my husband doesn’t think it’s worth it. We’ve just done the next best thing and made friends with people who have pools.

Smoking and drinking by a pool sounds amazing.

I'm just like you OP, I would love to live in a country that has proper seasons every year, I wouldn't mind cold short winters for a guaranteed summer, think New York. If you have to opportunity to do it, I say do it. What's the worse that can happen, if you hate it you can always come back to the UK.

The point about being on holiday is that you're on holiday! You don't have all your normal everyday stuff to do so can lounge around a pool. Pools need a lot of maintenance, even in warmer climates lots of people don't bother with one.

It’s a bit over hyped sometimes

We live somewhere hot in summer. We don’t have a pool ( use local lake instead).

It’s only really hot hot June-Sept really so seasonal, but life has to happen also. When it’s 30 degrees at 9am it’s not pleasant going food shopping, working, nursery run, maintaining garden, walking anywhere.
On days we have no work or chores it’s nice, but it’s too hot outside in sun 11.30-5pm often so you end up hibernating indoors or shade.

In the winter we often spend 3 months clearing metres of snow also

We do have a much more outdoors lifestyle though, but spring and Autumn are actually better times to go off out and about

Its actually already pretty hot this afternoon, and I’m putting of cutting the grass.

Our neighbours a few doors along have a pool. Only installed it about 5 years ago. They have to fill in pool filling applications at town hall to get an allocated day they are allowed to fill it for the summer as if everyone fills at once we would run out of drinking water. They are charged a fair amount by town to fill each year. Last year they didn’t bother filling at all. Cost a fortune to install also

My middle DD lives in Oz and has just bought a house without a pool. She said that the upkeep (her inlaws have a pool so she gets to see it first hand) and expenses of running it just aren't worth it. But she's only ten minutes from Torquay beach, so they go to the sea rather than having a pool.

And the weather can be very inconsistent in Victoria.