Bude Sea Pool
The Bude Sea Pool is one of the largest and most spectacular tidal swimming pools in Britain, a natural rock enclosure on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall near the town of Bude that has been improved and maintained since the 1930s to create a seawater bathing facility of exceptional quality. The pool fills naturally with fresh seawater on each tidal cycle, replenishing the water completely and maintaining the clean, clear Atlantic water quality for which the Bude coast is renowned. At high water the pool merges almost completely with the sea beyond its walls, making it one of the most dramatically exposed coastal bathing environments in England.
The pool covers approximately a hectare in area and is large enough for serious lap swimming as well as recreational bathing, a scale that makes it genuinely unusual among British sea pools. The combination of the clean Atlantic water, the dramatic coastal setting with the cliffs of Compass Point and the Bude Canal behind, and the generally reliable surf conditions visible on the beach just beyond the pool wall create a bathing environment that is both practically excellent and aesthetically thrilling. The pool is used year-round by local swimmers and open water swimmers who appreciate the predictability of pool-swimming with the natural water quality and temperature of the sea.
Bude itself is a small town on the north Cornish coast that has been a modest seaside resort since the Victorian period, its main attraction being the combination of the sea pool, the excellent surf beaches of Bude Bay, the Bude Canal and the coastal walking available on either side of the town along the South West Coast Path. The Bude marshes behind the town provide a nature reserve of some ecological interest and the contrast between the wild Atlantic coast and the quieter canal and marsh landscape inland gives the town a varied character unusual for a small seaside resort.
The Bude Sea Pool is free to use and is one of the genuine pleasures of a coastal character that is maintained and enjoyed by the local community as well as visitors.