Gilsland Spa - Pool in the Woods!
If you go down to the woods today, you are sure of a big surprise as down among the woods, in the Irthing Gorge, just by the Gilsland Spa Hotel is the old swimming pool set by the river. It must have been built at the same time as the spa hotel where you could take a walk from the hotel down to the river and swim in the pool. I guess that all the trees would have been cleared from the area otherwise the midges would have eaten you. But now, it is all abandoned, the trees have grown up around the pool, and bushes are growing in the pool.
As you approach the pool, it is like a surreal picture, it could be something out of a creepy movie - I wonder if it has been used as a film set? The pool is set above the river level, so I was wondering how the water flowed in and out. Just upstream, is what looks like the old pump house, a stone built building with a few abandoned electric motors. I assume this is what pumped the water into the pool as it would be unlikely to fill with water only at the time of the river flowing full blast, it might just reach it.Walking along there today, its a great walk all around the woods, hotel, gorge, and river edges with the water pouring off the rock cliffs.Its about 10 to 15 minutes walk from our B&B.
Tags: Gilsland, Irthing Gorge, Victorian swimming pool, Woodland Trust