The Rise Of Residential Pools

Our most recent baby and pre-school swimming survey in 2023, revealed a significant rise in swim schools using private residential pools as a result of pool closures or limited pool time availability.

Therefore for our latest ‘swim schools – do you want to build a swimming pool’ blog, we have reversed the focus by speaking to Bhavika and Mark Kane who initially built their own residential swimming pool for their own private family and friends use, but as word got out they were soon contacted by an external swim school and have since gone on to create their company Swim Blue. Here is their story …

When Bhavika and Mark moved from Nottingham to the Lincolnshire countryside in 2021, they struggled with the inaccessibility of rural life and the lack of local facilities; this included a public swimming pool so that their young son could learn how to swim.

Bhavika said: “I’m Nottingham born and bred, where everything is on your doorstep, so when we moved to Lincolnshire, which is quite rural, I struggled because not everything was accessible.”

With Mark being a builder, and their property in Bucknall, Woodhall Spa surrounded by beautiful farmland and picturesque scenery, Bhavika persuaded her husband to build an indoor 13m by 4m swimming pool, which has a 1.2 metre depth all the way through and is heated to 31-32 degrees Celsius.

Soon after Mark’s team completed the pool early in 2023, they were approached by a swim school and individuals, keen swimmers living locally, who too found that driving to the nearest pool wasn’t convenient.

Bhavika said: “We were quite excited when the swim school approached us, as we’d not even thought about hiring it out. But we soon realised the opportunity would enable my little boy to learn how to swim with professionally qualified teachers right on our doorstep – and I knew a lot children from his school would also benefit from this.”

Bhavika and Mark, consequently took up the Swim School’s offer and now their company Swim Blue provides swimming lessons through external providers, as well as a wide variety of other activities, for example pool parties and private hire. Plus, they host Ladies only and Over 50’s sessions, AquaFitness and general lane swimming.

Mark said: “It has been hectic and an exciting time, but it is going really well – we have everyone here, from babies to 80-year-olds and we manage it all ourselves. Its early days, but we want to keep growing the business and make it more accessible for more people – and take on more staff.”

Bhavika and Mark agreed: “We would highly recommend it to other homeowners who have pools and the space and infrastructure to accommodate external providers. It’s become increasingly apparent to us that public pool space is scarce for private learn to swim providers who rely on hiring pools, especially in rural communities like ours. We’ll do all what we can to support them as they do an amazing job, teaching children a key life skill, and we’d also be happy to share our experiences, and what we’ve learnt, with other homeowners.”

Find out more here