A summer trip to Stonehaven isn't complete without a visit to the heated lido pool which has the benefit of warmed sea water (31 degrees) in a safe and relaxing setting. It is the only one of its kind in the UK and was opened in 1934.

The admission price to the pool is for the day, so you can pop into town, which is within walking distance, and return as often as you'd like.

In addition to the pool there is a large patio area with free patio chairs and recliners.

Stonehaven Lido

Special events are hosted at the pool, such as the midnight swim and the inflatable swoopee. In addition to swimming there are some fun slides.

The pool has disabled access for disabled swimmers.

There is a cafe within the pool complex selling a range of drinks and food.

For the opening times and hours visit the Stonehaven Open Air Pool Website at see www.stonehavenopenairpool.co.uk

History Of Stonehaven Lido

Building work on the lido started in 1933. The area plans were originally for playing fields and a paddling pool, however a local ballot was won by supports of an open air swimming pool. It opened in June 1934. Over 2300 locals visited the pool on its first day of opening.

Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool

The pool was found to be too cold and in 1935 a heating system was installed which saw the popularity of the pool increase dramatically.

The highest recorded attendance at Stonehaven Lido was 3000 in one day and over 60,000 in one season.

Stonehaven Lido has always been popular with tourists, train loads would arrive from places like Glasgow to stay in local guesthouses and spend all day relaxing and having fun at the Lido.

Stonehaven Lido was temporarily closed at the beginning of the Second World War, but opened again in 1940 to help raise the morale of locals and Scottish people.

Post war diving competitions were held where swimmers would dive for tins of food and would get to keep any they were able to bring to the surface. The tinned food had no labels on them so winners never knew what they would have for their tea until they opened the tins!

Other competitions which were regularly held at Stonehaven Lido included Miss Stonehaven, knobbly knees competition, bonnie babies and glamorous grannies events.

We also run the www.findextrawork.co.uk website where there is information about earning more money from a range of part time and full time jobs which can be done at home or out and about. Visit for more information.

When cheaper foreign package holidays and cheap flights abroad came in the 1980s visitors to the Stonehaven Lido fell dramatically. So much so that visitor numbers fell to as few as 13,500. By 1994 Grampian Regional Council wanted to close the Lido. Fortunately many locals got together to form The Friends Of The Pool and persuaded the Council to continue to provide a budget and life-guards for the pool whilst The Friends would provide the financial support for upgrades. This agreement was renewed by the new Aberdeenshire Council in the year 2000.

Since then The Friends Of The Pool have taken Stonehaven Pool into the new Millennium and guaranteed its continued success and opening by re-introducing events such as the midnight swim, syncopated jazz swimmers and rejuvenated the gardens with the help of The Beechgrove Garden team.

In August 2007 the Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool was given an anonymous donation of £60,000. It was put towards building a new heated open air paddling pool at the Stonehaven leisure centre. This was a timely cash donation to the swimming pool at Stonehaven which had seen falling attendance over the summer of 2007 due to unusually poor weather of heavy rains. Work is due to start in the late summer or early autumn and be completed by spring 2008.

David Carry Swim

A special David Carry swim event takes place at the Stonehaven Lido Heated Open Air Swimming Pool on Sunday 7 September 2008. David Carry will discuss his experiences of the Beijing Olympic games and there will be fun and games. Read more about this special event on the aboutaberdeen David Carry page.

For more information about Stonehaven see www.stonehavenitsspecial.co.uk

More sports in Aberdeenshire.