10 Best Swimming Pools In North Yorkshire

Assume so, and be glad when it proves unnecessary. Most public pools now sell named sessions — lanes, lessons, family splash times — and arriving outside one means being told at the desk to come back later. Reading the timetable also shows you the empty hours, and with young children a half-empty pool matters more than almost anything else about the place.

Every pool sets its own, and the ages of your children change the answer, which is why families get turned away over this more often than over anything else. Some sites let one adult watch two under-eights; others are tighter, and the rule usually hardens for non-swimmers. Telephone the pool itself, give the real ages you are bringing, and get a clear answer before you drive over.

On the right day it is the best thing on this list; on a bad one you have driven for nothing. Helmsley Open Air Swimming Pool shows no indoor space whatsoever, so there is no retreat if the weather turns while you are there. Read the day's forecast and the site's own updates before leaving, and keep an alternative in mind. An open-air swim is worth some risk, but not a blind one.

Alpamare Water Park is the outlier, filed under water parks rather than swimming pools and built to keep a family occupied for hours rather than for a session. The rest run to an hour or two, a fine use of a morning, but that leaves the afternoon to arrange. Decide which of the two days you want before anything else, because they are not interchangeable and the kit differs.