Tinside

  
Last week I went swimming on the Plymouth Hoe at Tinside Lido. It was built in 1935 and is an Art Deco, grade II listed building that after years of neglect was re-opened around 2005. It draws salt water from the sea itself and like all pools, has a shallow and deep ends (certainly deep enough for diving!).
As its an open air pool, it has summer opening hours from June to the end of September and on a gloriously summer day, it truely is a spectacular place to swim!

What a view no?! that little Island there is Drake's Island and privately owned after years of apparently being owned by the crown. The Lido juts out into the Sound and you can see all types of boats, ships and military water crafts trafficking in and out of this massive harboured area, protected by the break water some miles out.
 

Tinside still retains its Art deco features such as this crystal glass panel, cut with the image of a female diver...if you look, you can see her just about. As the place is listed as a protected building, many features have to remain intact and it is just lovely to be in a place where you can roam the same paths the people back in the thirties did! It still keeps its communal changing rooms and the surround areas of the hoe still have trellaces, walk ways and beach huts where the more braver bathers could swim or stroll and enjoy the view. If you do visit Plymouth and have a bit of time on your hands, it is worth a walk exploring the maze like areas along the hoe, especially on a great day like it was when I went to swim there...in the freeeeeeezing waters!

If you closed your eyes, laid back in the water and felt the sun blast on your skin, you could almost convince yourself you are in a hot, exotic location, not in wild Devon!

And Plymouth's famous landmark...Smeaton's tower! (I once climbed all the way up to the top in a giant wedding dress for a photo-shoot up there once! Quite an experience and people loved seeing a small girl in a giant dress squeezing her way up and down and posing on a windy day...!)

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed myself that day and I'm sure some of my American readers would love seeing Plymouth, the original place where the Pilgrim fathers came from and american history in ways, began! Without them, you would have no thanksgiving I guess! It's great to share something like this to readers across the globe so enjoy!

Birdie love! xxx