Tarlair Swimming Pool

This is Tarlair Swimming Pool on the Banffshire coast. It was built in 1931 in Art Deco style, and is a particularly impressive example of an open air, tidal swimming pool. These types of pools were popular for social gathering (what’s that!?), but few remain in Scotland and none quite so unique.

Tarlair is tucked into a cove, which adds to its grandeur. I walked by a lovely little sea arch on the path to the pool and was so surprised when it opened up to reveal the grand curved walkways, old bath houses and the serene turquoise waters.

The pools were divided in 3 to include a swimming pool, paddling pool and boating pond, while the buildings housed a tea pavilion and changing rooms.

Tarlair is a quiet place now, save for the sounds of the ocean echoing off the cliffs surrounded the once bustling pools. If you sit long enough, with the sea breeze tousling your hair and the salt in your nose, you can start to hear the echoes of laughter, splashing and the joy of times past. The pool officially closed in 1995, and became a Listed (Category A) building in 2007. There are a lot of people who will have fond memories of Tarlair, I would love to hear from you if you are one of them!

Friends Of Tarlair is making great strides to restore and reinvigorate Tarlair. They have some great vintage (and modern) photos on their Facebook page and website - if you give their page a follow you can learn more history, keep up to date and contribute to help their efforts if you like

(I took these photos several years ago but never posted them because my phone camera was on its last legs. So I tried some vintage edits on the worst of them ).

Thanks for reading!

Lilly x

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