Yearsley Swimming Pool

The pool sits just outside York, a proper local spot that won't be on anyone's Instagram bucket list but works brilliantly if you're staying at Flaxton Meadows Campsite and need to burn off some energy. It's a functioning leisure facility with the usual mix of lap lanes, a shallow end for younger swimmers, and the kind of chlorine smell that takes you straight back to school PE lessons.

Yearsley is genuinely useful rather than spectacular. If you've got kids who need a couple of hours in the water while you sit in the cafe with a coffee, it does the job well enough. Older swimmers might find the lap sessions a bit packed during peak times, and there's nothing fancy about the changing rooms or facilities - they're clean and practical, nothing more.

The real draw here is convenience. You're five or six miles from York itself, so it's an easy side trip from the campsite without driving into the city centre chaos. On a wet Yorkshire afternoon when the kids are climbing the tent walls, an hour at the pool beats another soggy woodland walk hands down.

Opening hours and admission prices vary seasonally, so ring ahead before you go - and definitely check what times suit families versus serious swimmers. Summer holidays get rammed, so an off-peak weekday morning is your best bet for actually getting in the water without fighting for space. It's the kind of place you're glad exists when you need it, rather than somewhere you'd plan a trip around.