BILLINGHAY

Lido Road Trip
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

24th June 2017

Billinghay, for a pool nestled into a small rural community, is spectacularly easy to find. This always predisposes me to think kind thoughts about a pool; nothing dampens the ardour quicker than losing half an hour’s worth of precious swimming time to driving round in circles looking for a stealth pool.

Billinghay is not stealthy. It is gloriously signposted, and when you reach it the charmingly hand painted adornments on the changing block leave you in no doubt. I was also in left in no doubt by the presence of an already forming queue of small boys with towels.

I’d been kindly messaged by Bronwen, one of the volunteers, to offer me a sneak preview before the public came in so that I could take photographs. I felt rather privileged to be going in via the back door while the queue built out front.

Billinghay is a pool that takes you by surprise. You can’t see it from outside the walls. I rather like this in a pool, that first glimpse on entry is always the sweeter for having no idea what you’re going to see.

And what I saw at Billinghay is simply lovely. The grounds are verdant, hidden and homely. There is shade, there is sun. There is space, there is light. And there is bacon. Please don’t make my mistake of eating before you go. The tuck shop is very well stocked indeed and you’ll be missing out.

I happily pottered about taking pictures while the staff and volunteers readied for opening, and I could hear the noise level building from the queue outside. I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out from the pitch of the noise that the crowd was mostly children. Which is just as well, I couldn’t be doing with the opium, and my fingers are far too sausagey to adapt to a violin.

By the time I managed to get changed the crowd was already in and the pool was stuffed full of happy children. I was the only adult in the pool, and I didn’t mind a bit. There wasn’t a lane in, so I couldn’t do any actual swimming which was a bit of a shame, but I bobbed about looking and listening. The community that attaches itself to this pool was much in evidence. The lifeguards knew most of the children by name, as did Bronwen, and the children all seemed to know each other. The adults that had come with the children spread round the grounds chatting to one another. It was a gloriously free-flowing social affair and not once did I feel like an outsider. Nobody seems to care. Billinghay is an easy place to just be. And there’s value in that for all of us.

After my swim I had a lovely long chat with Bronwen about all sorts of things lido related. This is clearly a pool that is filled with at least as much love as it is water.

Lincolnshire is a long way out of my way, but I would happily go this far out of my way to go back. And one day, I will.

Pledge at https://unbound.com/books/lidoguide for a copy of the first ever user guide to publicly accessible outdoor pools across the UK. A practical, beautiful and inspiring book telling you all you need to know to plan your own lido road trips.

Lido Road Trip

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Pledge at https://unbound.com/books/lidoguide for a copy of the first ever user guide to publicly accessible outdoor pools across the UK.

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