Clevedon Marine Lake
Local highlightFree to swim all year, a walled sea-water lake on the Bristol Channel shore at Clevedon, opened in 1929 and rescued by volunteers
Open accessfree and open all year; no lifeguards or changing rooms, and it's drained now and then for maintenance
Clevedon Marine Lake opened on 30 March 1929, a walled lake on the shore built to hold sea water for swimmers while the Bristol Channel’s big tides go in and out. About every two weeks the spring tides, the largest tides of the month, rise to 12.6 m or more and spill over the wall, refreshing the water. In 2004 local people formed a charity, MARLENS (short for Marine Lake Enthusiasts), to save the lake, and in 2015 it was desilted and its walls repaired with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, North Somerset Council and donations. The lake is about the size of two football pitches, free and open all year, and unsupervised, with no lifeguard and no changing rooms. Two-thirds of the water is under 5 ft deep, so diving is banned, and the unheated water ranges from about 3°C in winter to 19°C in summer. Suvi Sauna is right beside the lake, and Clevedon Pier is about 1km north-east.
