A small-town pool in the Cotswolds, paid for by local fundraising and saved from closure by volunteers who still run it
Open to visitorsopen through the summer, plus winter weekend mornings for adults — book online or pay on the door
Townspeople in Chipping Norton started raising money for an open-air pool in 1963, and after seven years and more than £20,000 the pool opened in 1970. In July 2002 West Oxfordshire District Council announced it would close; a campaign group called Keep Our Pool Open won a reprieve, and in 2004 a new charity took the pool on a long lease. Volunteer trustees have run it ever since, with almost no public money beyond a small yearly grant from the town council, and they have added a sauna with cold plunges and a café. The pool is heated in summer, and in winter it opens on Saturday and Sunday mornings for adults only, when the water is colder. Book online, or pay on the door if there’s space. Kingham station is about 7km south-west.
