Woodland Lakes pool and spa

A heated indoor pool six minutes from the square that an adult can use for seven pounds, without staying anywhere or joining anything. That is unusual for a holiday park, and it is not an accident: when the leisure building was given planning permission in 2017, public access was written in as a condition. The council opened an enforcement case in 2020 when it was not being honoured, and the matter was settled in 2022. The building is 1,028 square metres, single storey, and went up in 2020.

The pool is 1.2 metres deep throughout with a jacuzzi alongside, which makes it a pool for playing in rather than swimming lengths in. There is soft play in the same building and a spa run as a separate concession.

For a wet afternoon with children who have had enough of museums, it does the job. For lane swimming, the town pool on Chapel Street is the better answer and it is a good deal closer.

West out of Thirsk on the A61 through Carlton Miniott, then south down Coney Garth Lane, and the leisure building is on the site. Two and a half miles, six minutes, YO7 4NJ.

Thirsk station is in Carlton Miniott and is closer to the site than the town centre is: a mile and a quarter, about twenty five minutes' walk. From the square itself it is three quarters of an hour along the A61, which is not a walk we would send anyone on with swimming bags.

There is parking on site. Nobody publishes whether day visitors pay for it, which is worth asking when you ring.

Swim, and go in the morning. Family swim runs from nine, and by four or five most days the pool has gone over to lessons or members. Several visitors have written about turning up at three and being told they were too late, so treat the closing time as a hard stop rather than a suggestion.

There is a jacuzzi beside the pool, soft play in the same building for smaller children, and an arcade.

The spa is the other half of the visit. Treatments start at 38 for a twenty five minute back, neck and shoulder massage and run to 225 for a five hour spa day that includes lunch and a swim. It trades as The Pamper Lounge and takes its own bookings.

The price. Seven pounds for an adult and five for a child, with a family ticket at twenty, is the cheapest indoor swim within ten minutes of Thirsk, and under-threes go free.

Warm water and a shallow depth. At 1.2 metres a seven-year-old can stand up in all of it, which changes how relaxed a swim with small children actually is.

Everything under one roof. Pool, jacuzzi, soft play, spa and food in a single building matters on the sort of afternoon when it has not stopped raining since ten.

Ring 01845 574824 before you drive over. Two pages on the company's own website contradict each other, one advertising entry for locals and the other saying no day passes are offered. The planning condition is on the side of the first, and reviewers do describe visiting for the day, but a phone call costs nothing and a wasted twelve-mile round trip with wet towels costs an afternoon.

Go early. The pool closes at four several days a week and reports of a three o'clock cut-off for entry are common.

There is no lifeguard, and that changes the maths with children. One adult can supervise two children aged four to seven, and a non-swimmer needs someone within arm's reach in the water, not sitting at the side.

Ignore the spa price list that comes up in search results. It is a 2023 document, still indexed, and it undercharges everything by up to thirty pounds against the current list.

If what you actually want is lane swimming or a teaching pool for a child learning, the Thirsk and Sowerby hub on Chapel Street is four minutes from our door, has lifeguards, and charges 6 for an adult.