You could spend hundreds of pounds, and travel half way around the world, to experience an idyllic infinity pool, but why bother? One of the most inviting infinity pools around is not only free, but it’s just down the road in North Cornwall.
The seaside town of Bude is about as far north as you can go in Cornwall before you hit the border with Devon. It’s a small and friendly place, and well worth a trip up the Atlantic Highway (a.k.a the A39) for a day trip or a longer stay.
There are two town beaches to enjoy – the sandy Summerleaze and the sand and shingle Crooklets – both with their own huge car parks. You could also spend an hour or so wandering along Bude Canal, through a nature reserve and back into the town itself, with its own mini castle.
But the undisputed highlight is a trip to, and even a dip in, Bude Sea Pool – a huge natural outdoor swimming pool under the cliffs which is filled at high tide. It was built in the 1930s to provide a safe haven for swimmers, and is also used by kayakers, for lifeguard training and for games of water polo.
Completely free to all, and open 24 hours a day, an estimated 60,000 people enjoy the pool every year. Public funding was stopped in 2010, and the pool is now maintained by a charity – Friends of Bude Sea Pool – which raises funds to pay for its £30,000 annual costs.
On our trip to Bude on a crisp October weekday, there were just two hardy souls braving a dip – both wearing wetsuits. If I lived in Bude, I’d cancel my gym membership and would be down the Sea Pool before work every morning. With lengths of 91m, it’s far bigger than any indoor pool.
When the tide is out, there are masses of golden sand on Summerleaze Beach between the Sea Pool and the shoreline. But at high tide, as my photos show, the pool takes on a completely different appearance.
In stormy conditions, huge waves crash over the walkway around the pool, making it a pretty dangerous place to swim or walk.
There are changing rooms, a lifeguard’s hut and a row of brightly coloured beach huts at the top of a flight of stone steps descending down to the pool. A professional looking photographer with tripod was camped out by these huts, waiting to film the sunset over the pool, and gave me a look that said “move along – this is my spot”.
The second best place to look down on the Sea Pool is from a cliff top bench on the South West Coast Path. You know how some benches have plaques in memorial of Bert or Mavis “who loved to sit here”? Well the bench overlooking Bude Sea Pool has a plaque on it in remembrance of Abba the guide-dog, printed in braille, which I thought was a nice touch.
So to summarise, Bude is beautiful and its Sea Pool is a stunner – but to answer your question, no, I didn’t get in the water myself. Maybe next summer!
abitofculture 
I need to go to Cornwall! In your opinion, where are the Top 3 places a first-timer to Cornwall should go and see?
What a tough question! I’d say:
1. Padstow area and the Seven Bays
2. Polperro and Fowey
3. Porthcurno
Go outside of school holidays (May or September would be best) and you’ll love it. If you have a car and base yourself near Padstow or Newquay you could see the best of North Cornwall. Let me know if you make it there and I’ll give you some more tips.
A30 eastbound – only joking!
My favourite is always The Lizard.
I still haven’t made it to The Lizard – I’m usually too knackered by the time I’ve got to the in-laws in Padstow to do much more driving, and it’s another hour and a bit down there!
Go for it next time. Drink a Red Bull and just drive!
wow! definitely better than gym:)
That is so cool! It is very appealing in many ways, but I’m afraid my extreme wimpiness about being cold would make me reluctant to get in anything that chilly.
Cool is the right choice of word! The Cornish coast looks great, but you’d have to be crackers to get in the sea without a wetsuit.
Funny- I had the same experience at Thorp Perrow. A guy with tripod who had monopolised a beautiful tree. Mine, all mine 🙂 🙂 We used to have one of those saltwater pools at Hartlepool too. Not on quite that scale and certainly colder!
Tripod owners are not the friendliest are they?!
Didn’t know this was in Bude – pool and beach look lovely and I love those colourful beach huts!
Apparently beach huts are quite rare for Cornwall – they’re big in Devon and Dorset, but not too many of them down here other than Bude.
Saw some in the bay beyond St Ives that were very similar to these…
Looks lovely – though I’m very much of the ‘not getting in an outside pool unless its 30 degrees’ type of swimmer, so would happily amuse myself with taking pictures instead!
I’m the same – you’d need to be pretty brave to swim here in Autumn, although it’s a little bit warmer in there than in the sea.
Great write-up. I do live in Bude and swim in the pool regularly, from around March through to … well, now-ish. One memorable dip was on the winter solstice a couple of years back!
Very jealous – I’d like to say I’d be in there every day, but reckon I’d end up giving autumn and winter a miss!
The sea pool is colder than the sea . We often holiday in bude . Surfing and swimming in the sea . Some fantastic walks around bude
That whole coastline is a walkers’ paradise!
Looks nice. Wife and I spent our honeymoon in Cornwall, but that was 40 years ago. I think a hot summer day might be okay for the pool, but not now.
I think you’re right! What a place for a honeymoon though, especially when it was less visited.
Looks a nice spot. Great photos. Wild swimming is quite a big thing now with people braving cold water. There are books about it and seen some stuff on TV about people going to remote Scottish lochs for a swim. Wet suit definitely required! Supposedly it is great for your well being and health to get in cold water and swim around. I am intrigued by it, so would like to try it one day.
I like walking, running and cycling, but swimming is one thing I’ve never really got into. If this was on my doorstep, I’d like to think I’d be there all the time.