Swimming is a great activity to do with your children - it encourages physical activity, it's fun and you can go at any time of the year! Teaching your children to swim is also important for their safety. There are lots of swimming pools in and around the Ely area. Here is our review of some of them.
Ely Paradise Pool
Learner pool and 25m pool
Price: under 3s free, 3-16 year olds
£2.60, adult £3.55, concessions £2.60
Note:
this pool has been under new management since 23 July 2012
Ely Pool has been pretty bad in my experience - mostly due to the pool
and air temperature which is far too erratic even for older toddlers, let alone
babies. I've also found the family changing facilities pretty unpleasant. I'm
pleased that 'Everyone Active' who run the Cambridge Pools will be taking over
as I regularly swim there and the standards of hygiene etc are much higher. Gillian
We have been to Ely's Paradise Pools once since it has been taken over
by new management and were overall fairly impressed. My two main issues before
were the dirty changing rooms with very poor maintenance (locks on some doors
had not worked for well over a year) and the cold temperature of the air and
pool. While the same layout remains in
the changing rooms, the cubicle dividers and doors have been replaced. The
floor was still wet but seemed a bit cleaner.
We didn't use the adult pool but the children's pool seemed to be
warmer. I like the pool at Ely because
the graded entry into the children's pool allows toddlers to be quite
independent and there are lots of games that they can play without needing to
be able to swim or cling to an adult. I hope that the higher standards are
maintained because it was nice to be able to take the baby swimming close to
home without her turning blue! Laura
The Paradise Pool has received a lot of bad press so I was a bit wary when I started going with my baby this year. But I've been pleasantly surprised! I haven’t had any issues with the pool itself. A lot
of people have complained about the temperature but it’s felt ok to me –
perhaps this was a past problem. The temperature was 31 degrees when I went at the weekend. The main problem for me was the dark and dingy changing facilities, but since the new management has taken over these have been vastly improved - new lighting and locks that work! Another recent change has been some new bubble jets in the learner pool to provide some added fun for little ones. The learner pool is a good
size so doesn’t feel overly crowded in busy periods. I’d recommend it to anyone thinking of
taking their children. Hannah
Newmarket Leisure Centre
Teaching pool and 25m main pool
Prices: under 5s £1, full £3.40,
concessions £1.70/£2.40
Newmarket is good for toddlers up. Good, clean changing facilities with
changing tables for babies. The pool is a little boring as it's just a square
pool. There isn't a shelved section but our eldest likes it. Not brilliant for
young babies as they can only really be either in your arms or dragged around in
an inflatable seat. I like a shelved bit so the baby can sit unaided and splash
about on you. The pool is nice and warm, though. Gillian
Cambridge Parkside Pool
Toddler pool with a flume for older
children and 25m main pool
Prices: under 18s £2.15, adult £4.10
Cambridge Parkside has a small shelved pool and a deeper training pool
suitable for some older children (if not being used for the flumes and slides).
The pools and the changing areas are clean and there are quite a few family
changing rooms with changing tables and seats you can strap babies into while
you change. There is a buggy park complete with locks as you go in. Gillian
Cambridge Abbey Pools
12m learner pool and 25m main pool
Prices: under 18s £2.15, adult £4.10
I've not been to Abbey Pools in ages but it was a large-ish shelved
pool, which is nice and warm. They had a lot of toys out for the children to
play with and the changing facilities were good. Gillian
Bury St Edmunds Pool
Pirate Pool, Teaching Pool, 25m Main
Pool and Flumes!
Prices: under 5s 85p, junior £2.20,
adult £3.40, concessions adult £2.20, concessions child £1.35
We often
choose to drive to Bury St Edmunds to go swimming. The changing rooms are clean
and there are large ones for families with changing tables. There is also
a playpen to place over-adventurous young toddlers/crawlers while getting all
the swimming things sorted (my three year old loves being put in 'the baby
cage' with his younger sister)! There are three pools. The adult pool is large.
I have never been into it but it looks good for older children. There is a
learner’s pool, which is shallow and has a series of shelved steps going into
the pool all along one side. This means that there is plenty of opportunity for
jumping up and down steps or crawling about and splashing. There is also
a colder 'pirate pool'. There are flumes for older children as well as a pirate
ship with two slides for smaller children. The pool is shallow enough to
allow any child older than about three to walk about fairly independently,
getting onto and off the slides. There is also a jacuzzi that is kept at the
same temperature as the pool and some 'bubble seats'. There is a lot to
do at the pool and a good cafe with a range of food (jacket potatoes,
sandwiches, chicken nuggets and chips etc). Parking is free and we find
that it is well worth the 40 minute drive to get there from Ely (although the
kids often fall asleep on the way home)! LauraSt James’ Swimming and Fitness Centre, King’s Lynn
10m
learner pool and 25m main pool
Prices:
children £2.40, adult £4.10
The best
thing about the learner pool at King’s Lynn is the temperature – it’s lovely
and warm! It has steps going down into the pool where you could sit with your
baby if you didn’t want to go all the way in. On the downside, it is just a
rectangular pool so is a little boring and it’s quite small (10m long and 7.5m
wide), so it can feel terribly crowded at busy periods. The changing facilities are good – bright and
spacious with a few family changing rooms. There’s also a spectator’s area
overlooking the learner pool. Hannah
What do you think about the swimming pools in our area? Let us know by commenting below.
We go to Calm-a-Baby http://www.calm-a-baby.com in Peterborough, which is handy for us living out this way. It's a purposely designed pool that I have been going to since the second trimester of my pregnancy when I did the pre natal aqua yoga. Arthur started swimming lessons at 7 weeks and we still go. It's great for babies as the water is 34 degrees. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that lives out this way).
ReplyDeleteI just thought it was worth adding that Cambridge Parkside pool gets very busy at weekends and school holidays. They limit the numbers in the toddler pool (and I think other pools too, but the toddler pool tends to be more of an issue) so you can end up waiting in a queue to get in that pool. However, it is a great pool.
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