ICONIC SWIM LOCATIONS


Open water has a long history. Every issue Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society, traces the past of a great swim spot


FARLEIGH RIVERBANK CLUB, WILTSHIRE


Portrait © Emma Critchley


SWIMMER’S GUIDE ∆ Location: Stowford Manor Farm, Wingfi eld, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 9LH


∆ Year of first recorded use: The club dates back to the 1930s, but people have been swimming here since medieval times.


∆ Opening times: When the water’s warm and the sun comes out: generally May–October. Although, if people are members (£12 a year), they can swim whenever they like.


∆ Safety cover: none. Swimmers swim at their own risk. ∆ Temperature range: 15-20˚C in summer. ∆ Website: stowfordmanorfarm.co.uk/swimming.php ∆ Contact: 01225 752253 (Stowford Farm). If it’s a nice day, go straight to the swimming field. To become a member, drop in at the farm.


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With grassy banks, overhanging trees and


a leisurely river, Farleigh and


District Swimming Club is a classic summer swimming spot. In late spring, damselfl ies mate above the water, skittering about the surface in fl ashes of blue, while swimmers gently fi n their way upstream in the current, or jump off the banks. They’re fans of sunshine here – the swimming season starts with good weather, rather from any strict date. Swimming costs £1 a time or £12 a year, with money paid to voluntary ‘collectors’ who roam the banks on warm days. Members can swim at any time – including under a full moon in winter if they wish. In the 1930s Farleigh was one of hundreds of river-swimming clubs up and down the country, but now it stands alone. There are 2,000 annual members, and up to 500 will visit during a busy bank holiday, 50 on other summer days.


Rules of decency must be observed: “We’re not a skinny- dipping show,” explains Rob Fryer, the club chair. Otherwise, “the club ethos is incredibly laid-back.” There is camping at Stowford Farm, on whose land the club is based, and cream teas are available here, too, with cream from its own cows. “Swimming here probably started when the weir was built back in medieval times,” says Philip Bryant, the farmer, “but it’s been run as a club since the 1930s.” In the early days, back before there were swimming pools, the club was formed in order to enter competitions. It ran a water polo group that competed against neighbouring towns. At the site itself, there were three high-diving boards and a spring board; “competition winners would receive a silver teaspoon”, says Rob. Health and safety means the boards have now been taken


down, and the “swimming area” is a 100m stretch of the river above the weir, with a current that is easy to swim against. It was threatened with closure in 1992 when it was ousted from the


bank opposite by the landowner, but the people of Trowbridge came out in protest, and Bryant, on the other side of the water, allowed it to move on to his land. “It’s actually rather better this side,” says Rob, “we get more sunshine.”


If you want a wonderful place to spend a summer’s afternoon or


evening, while taking a few dips, you could look a long time around Wiltshire and Somerset without fi nding anywhere better – people come from nearby Bath, Bristol and Glastonbury for a dip. “We’re becoming more popular with wetsuited triathletes now, too,” says Bryant, “with three local clubs using us for training.”


RULES OF DECENCY MUST BE OBSERVED: "WE'RE NOT A SKINNY-DIPPING SHOW"


It’s not all idyllic: there are bad days when people show up with crates of lager and refuse to pay the £1 fee, and there are days when, on his morning inspection, Bryant is depressed by strewn litter or – once – someone burning the club shelter down. But Bryant and Fryer do not let these things dispirit them. ‘Other times,’ says Bryant, ‘you go down there and it’s a gorgeous evening, you have friends, a BBQ, and you realise what a fantastic facility it is.’ ∆


JOIN THE FARLEIGH BIG JUMP Sunday 10 July is ‘The Big Jump’: a Europe-wide river swimming day. Join Kate Rew and other members of the Outdoor Swimming Society at Farleigh for a swim. Picnic and meet at 3pm, the ‘Big Jump’ is at 4pm. See outdoorswimmingsociety.com for more details.


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Photo © Rob Fryer 2009/F&DSC


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