Family
UK Staycations With a Pool: What to Check
Photo: Lee Hadbavny / Google
A pool can rescue a wet British week or be a cold puddle nobody uses. The difference is indoor versus outdoor, heating and shared versus private, and none of it is obvious from the photographs.
A pool is one of the most requested features in British self-catering and one of the most variable in practice. The same word covers a heated indoor pool available all year, a shared outdoor pool on a holiday park that opens in May, and a small private plunge pool that is delightful in August and unusable in October. The listings rarely make the difference plain, and the photographs are always taken in sunshine.
The three questions that decide it
Indoor or outdoor
In Britain this is the whole thing. An indoor pool is usable in every week of the year and is the reason a wet February half term still works. An outdoor pool is a summer feature, and even then it depends on the weather that particular week.
Heated, and to what
"Heated" is doing a lot of work in most listings. Ask for a temperature. Anything below about 26 degrees will feel cold to children who are in and out rather than swimming lengths, and an unheated outdoor pool in Britain is a plunge pool whatever it is called.
Private, shared or timed
Many properties with a pool share it across several cottages, sometimes on booked hour-long slots. That is perfectly workable, but it is a different holiday from stepping out of the door whenever you like. Ask how many other properties share it and whether slots are booked.
Where they are concentrated
The south-west
Cornwall, Devon and Dorset have the highest density of pool properties, from converted farm complexes with an indoor pool shared between four cottages to large parks. Somerset is quieter and often better value for the same facilities.
Holiday parks
Parks are where the big indoor pools are, with the trade-off that they come attached to everything else a park involves. Norfolk, Lancashire and the Isle of Wight all have substantial ones.
Country house and spa hotels
If the pool is for adults rather than children, a spa hotel gives you a better pool and a quieter one. Harrogate, Bath and the Cotswolds have concentrations of them.
Practical points
Check the season and the changeover
Outdoor pools have opening seasons and some close earlier than the accommodation does. Shared indoor pools are often closed for cleaning on changeover day, which may be your first afternoon.
Check supervision rules
Most private and shared pools are unsupervised, which is entirely normal but worth knowing in advance if you are travelling with young or non-swimming children. Ask about depth and whether there is a shallow end, since plunge pools frequently have neither.
Work out how much it is really costing
A pool usually adds a noticeable premium, and it is worth being honest about how much it will be used. For a February week with young children an indoor pool can carry the entire holiday and is money well spent. For a July week on the coast, where everyone will be at the beach by ten, the same premium buys something that gets used twice. Compare against a similar property without one before assuming it is worth it.
Think about the walk back
A pool in a separate building, across a courtyard, changes how often people use it — particularly in the months when an indoor pool matters most. Somewhere to change on site, and a short covered route, make more practical difference than the size of the pool itself.
See also our family staycations, rainy day and hot tub guides.
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