Chipping Norton Lido
One of the last heated open-air lidos in the country, run by volunteers behind the high street in Chippy.
One of the last heated open-air lidos in the country, run by volunteers behind the high street in Chippy.
The lido sits just off the main road in Chipping Norton, about fifteen minutes from the cottage, though you'd never guess it was there unless someone told you. A 25-metre heated pool, a shallow toddler pool for little ones, saunas, a cold plunge, and long stretches of lawn where you can settle in with a book and a coffee from the poolside café. The water is heated to a genuinely swimmable temperature (this matters in the Cotswolds, even in July), and on a clear morning the light across the pool is lovely. It is one of the first places we point families towards when they ask what to do with a warm day.
The one thing to know before you set off is that the lido is seasonal. It opens for the summer, roughly from April through to September, and closes over the colder months, so it is very much a fair-weather treat rather than a year-round pool. Dates, session times and prices shift from year to year, so we'd always check the official website for the current season and timetable before you go rather than turning up on spec.
The lido has been run by local people as a charity since 2004, and it shows in the best way. There are volunteers on the gate, regulars who swim their lengths every morning, and children racing across the grass between dips. It has that slightly old-fashioned, well-loved feeling that you don't get at a leisure-centre pool, and because it survives on ticket sales, memberships and fundraising, every visit quietly helps keep it going. Through the season it also hosts things like aquafit, synchro sessions and Sunday morning yoga, alongside the odd community fundraiser, so it is worth a glance at the timetable even if you just want a quiet swim. It is a small, generous sort of place, and part of what makes a summer here feel like a proper Cotswold one.
Our favourite version is the early one. We drive over for a morning swim while it's still quiet, then walk the couple of minutes into town for coffee and something to eat on the high street, or pick up a few bits and take breakfast back to the cottage. The whole thing takes a couple of hours and sets up the rest of the day nicely. On a hot afternoon it works just as well the other way round: potter around Chipping Norton first, then cool off with a swim before heading home. Warm weekends and school holidays are the busy times and sessions can fill up, so if you have your heart set on a particular slot it's worth booking or checking ahead. Bring towels, sun cream and a bit of cash or a card for the café, and you're set. If the weather turns, or you're here outside the season, there's plenty else within a short drive: the theatre, the little cinema and a good spread of pubs are all in the same town.
“An early swim at the lido, then a wander into Chippy for breakfast. It's one of the simplest mornings you can have here, and one of the best.”
Check this season's dates and times on the official site → · More things to do →
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.