Recommendations for Swimming Pools

[liamsdaddy]

Does anyone have any recommendations for swimming pools in the area? My little boy is 2.5 yrs and it?s probably time that we took him swimming occasionally!

I?m not specifically looking for lessons, just for somewhere fun to take him to for a splash. Looking for somewhere nice that is open on a Saturday or Sunday, has family changing areas and a few things for him to play with ? such as a slide. Ideally there would be a dry-side viewing area for when ?mum? (essentially a non-swimmer) wants to come along too but doesn?t want to get in the water.

I?ve already seen the totdays page (www.totsdays.net/swimming.html) although that is mostly lessons which I?m not looking for right now. If someone wants to provide feed back on a specific swimming lesson provider, feel welcome.

Riverside is a good place to start. It has a separate toddler pool (warmer and shallower), with it's own viewing balcony. The changing area has plenty of family size cubicles and is unisex so "mum" could easily meet you to give a hand with the changing if needed. You can take your own floats/noodles/small toys.

Here's the web page. If I recall, they have public sessions on a Sunday morning as well as at other times.

They also have a cafe, if you fancy a coffee afterwards and a softplay area as well.

P.S. if you take your parking receipt with you, you can get £1 back.

Thanks :)

I've heard a few people mention Braintree pool as well, which is slightly less expensive but is a good drive away (which probably would cost more then parking at Chelmsford).

Although before we can go swimming, I need to replace my cossie!

Braintree's a bit far north for me .

If you want to go to a brand new pool and don't mind a wee drive, you could look at the new pool in Basildon. It has a learner pool, but the main feature is the 50m pool which is going to be used for Olympic swimmers to train in. It's very clever - it has a moveable boom to split it into 2x25m pools and the bottom of the pool goes up and down. It's only been open for a couple of months.

I think a speedo sharkskin might be overkill for the toddler sessions though .

www.basildonsportingvillage.com/

Re Braintree pool, it is COLD! Far too cold for little ones, despite them claiming that the temperature is fine. The toddler area is also extremely shallow, so means spending the whole time on your knees.

I have heard people speak really highly of Riverside. There's one in Witham too which is apparently quite good, although I've no experience of it.

Colchester pool gives you the option of a nice learner pool which is lovely and warm, or the leisure waters area with slides etc, and is essentially just a big puddle getting slightly deeper as you get further away from the water's edge.

Hi, thanks for the comments :) The person who recommended Braintree did have an older child (4-6 ish) so they would be able to cope with colder water better.

Interesting about Colchester as that's only 20-25 minutes up the road. I assume that the leisure slides are for older children.

My little boy did enjoy the water slide at the centreparcs which we have recently been too - but that was specifically for toddlers. I'd love to find a similar facility locally, but I'm expecting that to be unlikely.