Rivermead - A lovely play swim for littles
- kayleighquelch
- Jul 1, 2015
- 2 min read
Today I had a great time with my little. I've not been swimming with him on my own at all so it was a great first, made better by fun toys!
Our destination of choice was Tots Waterworld at Rivermead Leisure Centre. We had a bit of a search around, gave them a call and the lady on the phone suggested this would be a good slot to try.
Rivermead's changing rooms weren't the nicest (that's being kind) but their recent refurb has really brightened the experience for us. Huge bonuses to have a lockable buggy park (£1) although I did wonder if it got busy whether all the locks could be used...and big poolside lockers (also £1). A big option of changing rooms from baby friendly. family sized to individual was also great.
Was a bit dawn patrol, we had to leave the house early to get to the session for 9.15am, but my little is an early bird! I think the early time actually meant it wasn't overrun and we felt as thought we had a lot of quiet enjoyment of whatever we wanted to do.
In the pool we enjoyed a littering of balls, noodles, ducks, frogs, fish (plastic, of course) and we struggled to part with a couple of boats and a watering can. A little sing-song in the middle, a little bit more play and 45 mins of swim fun was over. It brought us neatly to a warm shower, quick get-dressed and a good snooze before lunch. Litlle, not me. Sadly.
I think the only downside for me was the temperature of the pool. But I don't write anything I don't give as direct feedback on the day. I was told it was passed on, from research I've seen a lot of other parents feel the same about the temperature. In any event, it was me I think that felt it initially and forgot about it because we had a blast.
5 top tips
1. Take a big bag so everything can be lifted out of the locker in one go, really useful if you have to carry babe in one arm
2. Take a couple of £1 coins for the locker and buggy park if you need them
3. Leave a towel poolside for little shiverers
4. Aim to get there for about 9am (hard given Caversham's traffic too) to get the most of the 40 mins or so of swim fun
5. Wear warm swim costume for littles, if they have a nice thermal jacket type suit, this is an ideal pool to use it. Kindly say something about the temperature on the way out - the more it's said (fingers crossed) the warmer the pool will get for littles.
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