A 50m, heated, outdoor pool, near to Victoria Park and Hackney central. London Fields Lido has been renovated and is now open!

It is operated by GLL so facilities are spartan but it is fab and clean. Entry is less than £4 and the pool is open from 6.30am (mon-fri) or 8am to 8pm.

Lockers are poolside (20p) and changing rooms and showers are inside and out. There is also sunbathing space around the pool.

It is a blissful place to plough up and down: no gimmicky wave machines or even inflatables here.

Be aware, though, that if it really really rains, then you will be thrown out of the pool as visibility is reduced.

Sad irony that London summers mean that it is too wet to swim.

London Fields Westside
E8 3EU
Map: tinyurl.com/3asby5

www.hackney.gov.uk/c-londonfields-lido.htm

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If you're in Rome make sure you take a day or afternoon trip out to Ostia Antica (30 mins by train). It was the ancient port city of the Roman Empire & when the river silted up it was abandoned and the silt preserved the city beautifully. What's left is a huge ghost-town several miles inland with amphitheatre, apartment blocks, forum, bath houses and villas.

You can enter and walk around most buildings - even go upstairs and walk in gardens - and there are few of the restrictions you'll find in Pompeii. We went on a Sunday afternoon and the place was spookily almost deserted.

In the summer, the amphitheatre often hosts open air performances of folk and opera. A real find. Plus you can round off the day with a swim with the surf girls and boys at Rome's funky beach suburb, Ostia, a train stop away at Lido Centro.

Take the (very shabby)overland from Piramide/ Ostiense towards C. Colombo or Lido Centro. Costs about 3 Euros.

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