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It may be the most un-summery British summer that we can remember, but when it's hot and muggy, summer in a city is hotter. This isn’t just our perception – the so-called ‘urban island effect’ makes temperatures higher within cities than in neighbouring rural areas, which amplifies heatwaves in the summer.
When it's cool and raining, it's tempting to stay indoors. But being outside is much more rejuvenating than an afternoon watching box sets, which is why we love swimming in the rain at lidos or a bit of contrast therapy with a park (or even city farm) mobile sauna and plunge pool.
While you can escape the city heat by going inside with air conditioning and fans, it doesn’t quite cut it. And leaving the city for a seaside or country escape isn’t always realistic when you have life commitments to uphold.
Luckily, cities have little pockets of green and blue, oases amid the concrete that are just perfect for escaping the heat. As research into the health benefits of blue and green spaces grows, so does the number of inner-city havens. But how can you find them? Do they get crowded in the summer?
We put together this guide to making the most of escapes in the city. Pack a picnic and your D&B and come with us…
The first step is to find blue and green areas on a map. However, you won’t be able to access all green areas and you certainly can’t swim in every bit of blue, so you’ll need to research potential picnic and swim spots.
An Ordinance Survey Explorer physical or online mapor the Ordinance Survey app shows all public footpaths, so you can see which green and blue spaces are accessible. For example, if you look at the OS Explorer map of the City of Bath, you can see all the parks. You can also see that there’s a footpath along the River Avon south of Pulteney Bridge, but not to the north.
You can use maps to find places to picnic, but what if you want a dip? You can use resources like NOWCA’s Wild app and the Wild Swim Map. But a quick internet search is often the best way to find information about swim spots. Sticking with our Bath example, the Wild Swim Map showed a couple of spots just outside the city, but a quick search led us to the Discover Bath website that shows a few good spots in the city where you can get into the river. It also showed outdoor pools and children’s splash pools in parks.
Finally, don’t forget to check water quality. For rivers, use the Rivers Trust map. If you’re lucky enough to live in a coastal city, use Surfers Against Sewage.
“Water quality is generally better in the summer when there’s less rain,” says open water coach, Rowan. “Rivers are shallower, so currents aren’t as strong. Just watch for hazards and obvious signs of pollution like litter and bad smells, avoid blue-green algae and never jump or dive in – not only could there be hidden dangers under the surface, but also the temperature difference between hot air and cold water can send your body into shock.”
For a complete guide to picnicking, walking and swimming in the city, guide books are your friend. We love Urban Rambles by Nicholas Rudd-Jones and Wild Thing Publishing’s titles, including Outdoor Swimming London, which contains 140 wild swims and lidos in and around the capital. We also love The Lido Guide for finding outdoor pools all over the UK.
In every city, there are groups that enjoy and look after green and blue spaces. This might be at your local cemetery, park, allotments or city farm where you can volunteer gardening skills or join a wildlife walk. Or you might find an outdoor swimming group that has insider knowledge about a stretch of river, reservoir or lake.
You can find these groups through an internet search or social media, or you can go old school and look at local notice boards.
Enjoying green and blue spaces should be free. But there are advantages to paying an entry fee to enjoy managed spaces. First of all, the number of people within that space will be limited so it won’t be crowded. Secondly, your entrance fee will go back into the local community through paying for people’s employment and caring for the environment.
With outdoor swimming spots, the water will usually be quality tested and lifeguarded too, making for safer swimming. A resurgence in popularity of lidos and wild swimming means that lots of UK cities have seen reopened outdoor swimming pools and new open water swimming venues.
In 2023, dubbed ‘year of the lido’ we saw amazing new outdoor pools being opened in Brighton, Bath and Hull. After a successful pilot last year, swimming in the Bristol docks started this year. And leisure organisations operate some great venues in cities across the UK, including Liverpool, London, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow and Cardiff.
