Swimming pool season length
Swimming pool season length
How long do you keep your pools open for? I know it depends on location but I'm interested in any responses! On my website, I clearly state that the pool is open start of May to end of September and being in Northern Brittany, the outside temperature is really too cold outside of this season to consider swimming in an outdoor pool. Yet every year I get people enquiring for Christmas saying that they assume the pool will still be available and heated! I have had an enquiry for the half term week and they 'assume the pool will be heated' - although I have a few bookings for October, they are all at low season rates and I don't put the price up for the holiday week either, so it isn't really financially viable to continue heating the pool. I am on the tempo rate, but I'm still not sure if the pool would be warm enough just using the heat pump at that time of the year and it would be a costly experiment!
Susan,
Our pools are open all year (aesthetic reasons), but they're not heated. If people are silly enough to think that they can swim comfortably in winter, I'd rather they didn't come: they might cause mindless damage with that mind-set. (Nobody ever has thought this, of course..... but there's always a first time.)
I wouldn't want anybody staying who "assumed" anything that wasn't perfectly reasonable. It's ok to "assume" that there will be hot water, decent furniture etc etc. It's arrogant to assume that the pool will be heated - at any time, because this is not the norm in France. Kind people ask, they don't assume. I wouldn't feel bad about losing them.
Our pools are open all year (aesthetic reasons), but they're not heated. If people are silly enough to think that they can swim comfortably in winter, I'd rather they didn't come: they might cause mindless damage with that mind-set. (Nobody ever has thought this, of course..... but there's always a first time.)
I wouldn't want anybody staying who "assumed" anything that wasn't perfectly reasonable. It's ok to "assume" that there will be hot water, decent furniture etc etc. It's arrogant to assume that the pool will be heated - at any time, because this is not the norm in France. Kind people ask, they don't assume. I wouldn't feel bad about losing them.
Best,
Alexia.
Alexia.
I'm not sure that I agree with you alexia.alexia s. wrote:Susan,
Our pools are open all year (aesthetic reasons), but they're not heated. If people are silly enough to think that they can swim comfortably in winter, I'd rather they didn't come: they might cause mindless damage with that mind-set. (Nobody ever has thought this, of course..... but there's always a first time.)
I wouldn't want anybody staying who "assumed" anything that wasn't perfectly reasonable. It's ok to "assume" that there will be hot water, decent furniture etc etc. It's arrogant to assume that the pool will be heated - at any time, because this is not the norm in France. Kind people ask, they don't assume. I wouldn't feel bad about losing them.
Susan's pool is heated, just not at those times of the year the guests are coming, many pools which have heating are only heated out of the main summer months and this may be where the confusion lies. I would never expect a pool to be heated in August for example.
My own pool isn't heated but my children always use it at Easter and October half term. Of course it's freezing (and I never venture in) but they tend to make more use of the inflatables.
Before we had our own house we always rented at October half term and if we could, we booked a heated pool but they were always booked first. Sometimes we paid a supplement for the heating and were happy to do this.
Admittedly this was never in Brittany and we are in Southern Spain but I do consider Easter to October to be my rental season and the pool to be in use.
Our pool is open early May to mid October (SW Charente Maritime,France) and usually still good to swim in at the extremes of the season.It is not heated .This year is odd-although the temps have been up to 30 in the day the evenings have been cooler than the norm and the pool temp has dropped dramatically,it's only 19 in one of the pools at the moment,the other a bit higher (difference in shape/depths etc).I am mulling over the possibility of solar heating for next year. 
www.thepetitmanoir.com
www.thepetitmanoir.com
Thankyou for pointing this out - I do advertise the fact that the pool is heated because we are in Northern Brittany and the pool would possibly only reach its optimum swimming temperature (27°c) in August if it wasn't heated. So the heating is really for May, June and September (when we have most guests) and the pool season is clearly stated on my website. I assumed that people would realise that most pools are only open during the summer months. I assumed people think like I do and I would never expect a pool to be available in Brittany October - March - mainly because the outdoor temperature would be too cold.
I must stop assuming things!
Fraise, is anyone swimming in your pool at 19°c???
I must stop assuming things!
Fraise, is anyone swimming in your pool at 19°c???
Don't know if they are swimming but they are dangling their legs over the side and sitting on the Roman steps,so it is still an enjoyable experience 
My pool is 19 here and I'm not swimming-just looking longingly 
I too dangle my legs in the water and lounge around on the steps area!! Solar heating could make a big difference this year as it is so warm and sunny in the day,just chilly at night 
My pool is 19 here and I'm not swimming-just looking longingly I too dangle my legs in the water and lounge around on the steps area!! Solar heating could make a big difference this year as it is so warm and sunny in the day,just chilly at night 
Our pool is left running 12 months of the year, though even with the good weather we have in Malta, and considering that the pool is not heated, you can only realistically swim between May and November. The pool temperature in May will be a chilly 18C, reaching an average temp. of 27C and then dropping down to about 22 by mid November. Between December and April the water temp can vary between 18C - 14C, without of coarse taking into consideration the atmospheric conditions.
I always tell my prospective guests that the pool is not heated. It would be foolhardy to install expensive heating equipment for around 4 months possible use, with 30% occupancy at that time anyway!
I always tell my prospective guests that the pool is not heated. It would be foolhardy to install expensive heating equipment for around 4 months possible use, with 30% occupancy at that time anyway!
Malta – always in the sunshine!
Paolo, I could think of many ways other than swimming in 10C sea water! Extraordinary or not! First of all, the water down south never gets that cold, so I can't say can I?? (OK, I'll wipe the smirk off my face).
Seriously, I know that it could have it's benefits, though I will stick to more orthodox methods of getting the pleasures out of life!
Seriously, I know that it could have it's benefits, though I will stick to more orthodox methods of getting the pleasures out of life!
Malta – always in the sunshine!
Weird isn't it Paolo? When I was a youngster in the North of England I'd think nothing of going in the sea in Filey or Bridlington and the temp often can't have been more than 16 on a good day and yet now I shrink from taking the plunge in my own gorgeous pool if it's under 20!! Like Enid,I too take the plunge when it's in the low 20's,but I don't hang about!!
I have to eat my words on this one - thanks to the Indian summer and the abri, the pool is still at 27°c, so it is open for the half term week and very pleasant it is too! The heater has hardly been on at all, but its going off for the winter as soon as the tempo tarif kicks in on 2nd November. The families staying here have loved using the pool - its an added bonus for them.