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6 Best Swimming Pools In Cumbria
Two of Cumbria's six pools are recorded as outdoor, and that is the fact a parent needs to plan around. Greystoke and District Outdoor Pool and Shap Swimming Pool both carry an outdoor flag in our data, and open-air water in this county is a genuinely different experience from a heated indoor tank — bracing, memorable and short. A confident eight-year-old will talk about it for weeks. A three-year-old will be blue and crying in ten minutes. The four indoor centres, Penrith Leisure Centre, The Sands Leisure Centre, Dalton Leisure Centre and The Park Leisure Centre, are the reliable option for small children and for any day the weather turns.
Top swimming pools in Cumbria
Showing 1–6 of 6
WaterShap Swimming Pool
Swimming PoolsGreystoke and District Outdoor Pool
Swimming PoolsDalton Leisure Centre
Swimming PoolsThe Sands Leisure Centre
Swimming PoolsThe Park Leisure Centre
Swimming PoolsPenrith Leisure Centre
So the county gives you a treat and a fallback, and the age of the child decides which is which. Outdoor pools reward children who can swim, warm up quickly and think cold water is funny. Indoor centres are where a toddler learns, where a nervous child gets confident and where a wet week gets rescued. Both have a place, and the mistake is taking a preschooler to the first when you needed the second.
Swimming Pools in Cumbria: FAQs
How young is too young for an outdoor pool?
Under about six it is rarely worth it, and under four almost never. Small bodies lose heat far faster than adult ones, so a child who is delighted for the first five minutes is shivering by the tenth and has to come out before they have really done anything. From seven or eight the balance flips completely and the cold becomes part of the appeal. Bring more towels than seems reasonable and something hot to drink, whatever the age of the swimmer.
Is the record on these outdoor pools reliable?
Not entirely, and it is fair to say so. Shap Swimming Pool is filed under a general water heading and marked outdoor with no indoor space, which does not match how a village pool of that kind usually operates. Check directly with the pool before you build a day around swimming outdoors there. Where our flags and reality disagree the flag is what you see on the page, so treat any surprising indoor or outdoor marking on this list as a prompt to ring ahead rather than as a settled fact.
Which centre suits a child having their first proper swim?
An indoor one with a smaller pool alongside the main tank, at a quiet time of day. Penrith Leisure Centre and The Sands Leisure Centre are the larger indoor entries here, and size usually brings a second, shallower tank alongside the main one, which is exactly what a beginner needs. The other thing that matters at that age is the walk from the changing room to the water, because a long cold corridor undoes a nervous four-year-old before they have got in.
What do we do here on a wet day in the school holidays?
Swimming is one of the few Cumbrian plans that improves when it rains, since you were going to get wet regardless and the indoor centres are busy but rarely full. Expect company: on a poor day in August every family in the valley has reached the same conclusion. Booking a session in advance where the centre allows it saves a queue, and going either early or late in the day makes a considerable difference to how much room a small child has.