Woburn Lido is Situated on Crawley Road, Woburn, Bedfordshire. The pool is sited right on the boundary wall of Woburn Estate, and elephants can be heard and seen bathing in the lake on the other side of the boundary wall from the Lido on occasional hot summer evenings.
Open from late May to September each year 10:00 - 19:00 daily.
Admission £3.50 per adult per day, £2.25
per child per day.
Numerous season tickets are available - prices are quoted on
request.
The Pool is also available for private
hire. Prices available on request.
Ice-creams, sweets, cold drinks etc. available + some swimming
equipment
sold.
The pool was built in the early part of the twentieth century by the Duke of Bedford, who built a number of pools in the villages surrounding Woburn Estate for the benefit of his workers on the Estate. Two remain, the one at Woburn and another at Eversholt in Bedfordshire.
The Woburn Lido has changed very little over the years, although
it is now heated and there's a small children's paddling pool.
The main pool is some 50 yards by 25 yards, and ranges from 3
feet to 6 feet in depth. The
changing rooms were converted from the Woburn Estate laundry which
was originally sited there and are currently basic, but functional
(no showers!). There is also a large grassed area for sun-bathing,
picnicking
etc.
Following the closure at the end of this season, work is planned
to demolish and rebuild the changing rooms, staff offices, carpark
and possibly the children's paddling pool. The money for this
refurbishment has been
collected over the past few years by fund raising activities in
the village and various successfully applied for grants.
The pool is used by a large proportion of the Woburn village community, both young and old alike, and attracts regular visitors from the surrounding villages.
The same lady, Pauline, has run the pool each summer for at least the past 14 years and knows all the regulars and does a superb job in keeping the pool open every day during the season. Without her, it is sure that the pool would have closed years ago.
The financial side of the pool, including the arrangements
for the planned refurbishment are looked after by the Village
swimming pool committee. They also, with the aide of Pauline,
arrange emergency repairs and annual
cleaning etc. prior to the opening.
Thank you to Neil Parish for providing this information.