There is something romantic about the idea of going to an English pond for a swim. Maybe it’s the idea of being surrounded by natural greenery, especially during the summer heatwave. But does the idea of it match up with the reality?
Swimming in a pond has always been something I wanted to do since I heard about it from a friend, and in London, Hampstead Heath is the place to go. Hampstead Heath is an enormous park in North London and is home to three main swimming ponds. There’s the Lady Ponds, the Men’s Ponds and the Mixed Ponds. Divided by gender, you have to book a ticket in advance before you go join a swim session. Tickets cost £4.25 per session (or £2.45 concessions) and allows 1 hour of swimming. If you’re feeling fancy, the Parliament Hills Lido is nearby but will cost a little more. But this isn’t a post about their local lido.
Initially I didn’t know that you needed to book a tickets in advance to go, so I was turned away from the Kenwood Ladies Pond because it was all booked up. The Ladies Pond was down a secluded path and quite hard to find. It’s actually situated very close to the south-east entrance of Hampstead Heath.
So my second option had to be the Mixed Bathing Pond instead. It was a 15-minute walk over the hill from the Ladies Pond, and on the way I could see the Men’s Pond which was the biggest one.
Because of the way the swimming sessions were organised, the people managing the ponds were strict with time and wouldn’t allow anyone in until everyone from the previous group left. Once you could get in, there were changing rooms that looked like any swimming facility.
There was a total of 25 – 30 people at the pond. Some were seriously seasoned swimmers with the rubber cap and goggles, but most were locals with their friends looking for something fun to do together. This meant we had to queue behind some people reluctant to dive into the pond directly, myself included. When it was my turn to get in, it definitely felt like swimming in a pond. It really felt like wild swimming: the water was a murky dark green and the bottom was muddy with a lot of algae. The shallow part of the water had this pungent smell of mud and other wild natural things mixed together. This has to be something for anyone to consider before swimming in a pond – the unglamorous reality of nature.
As I swam deeper into the pond, the water felt more dense and I suddenly understand what the sign “competent swimmers only” meant when I was waiting behind the gate. As I swam further, I was getting out of breath and needed to head back or latch onto something for a break. Floating in there alone was getting exhausting because how dense the water felt against my arms and legs. Looking around me, most of the floating bouys in the pond were taken by other people or too far to reach, so I swam back. I wanted to enjoy floating in the pond like the lifeguards on their paddle-boards.
I must have only been in that water for 10 or 15 minutes. Because there was only two outdoor showers, I rinsed myself off quickly and ran back to the changing rooms, worried that there would be a long queue of people to wait for if I had decided to sunbathe like the majority of people were doing there.
Overall, I didn’t love the experience but I had a lot of fun. I’d say it was a 5/10 experience because I’m someone who would prefer fresh sea water over a pond, but it was definitely worth a try and I probably won’t do it again unless I was roasting on a hot summer’s day. Getting in the pond felt like a workout and woke me up after being in the sun all morning. If you really like nature and you’re a competent swimmer, then Hampstead Heath’s swimming ponds is for you.
Nadia Cheung 