The vastness of Tarlair lido is hard to comprehend. Just a mile east of the town of Macduff, in Aberdeenshire, the lido’s three bodies of sea water are supplied by a tidal filling system and divided by a concrete wall, slippery with seaweed. The water’s reflection announces a striking mint-and-cream art deco pavilion, and a cinematic sea view. From the pavilion’s roof terrace, where dandelion-coloured tables and chairs are set out, it’s easy to lose a few minutes gazing beyond the salty outcrops to a northerly horizon.
Originally commissioned by Macduff town council in 1929, the pavilion and pools – a paddling pool, boating “lake” and swimming pool – were designed by architect John C Miller and opened two years later as one of only three art deco lidos of their kind in Scotland. The site reopened in late March after 30 years of closure and a decade of work costing approximately £2m. Momentum is building around the pavilion’s heavily anticipated summer comeback and it is hoped that the pools will eventually be able to welcome swimmers again, too.
Tarlair trustee Reg Connon fondly remembers swimming here as a child in the late 1950s. “We used to come down as a family on weekends. We’d arrive at 10 in the morning and that was us until five at night … weather permitting,” he laughs.
Gala days, swimming championships and even concerts catapulted Tarlair into a top leisure destination between the 1950s and 70s, serving communities and visitors alike as an attended pool from May until late August. It kept up its reputation until the 1980s and, on occasion, the water was emptied to host crowds for bands such as Jethro Tull, Wet Wet Wet and Celtic rockers Runrig.
However, the early 90s saw a mass transfer of staff to an indoor pool in neighbouring Banff, which led to the lido’s gradual closure. Then, as rival attractions held sway, it crumbled into an abandoned playground until 2012.
“The indoor pool at Banff changed everything,” Connon says. “Around the same time cheap flights abroad became available and it was never the same again.” In the high season, Moray Firth tourists were ushered instead to Speyside whisky distilleries, bottlenose dolphin lookout points and lifeguard-monitored beaches.
Tarlair’s revival has been an arduous and inspirational 12-year effort by the Friends of Tarlair, a loyal band of 34 volunteers with the sole aim of restoring this once-thriving marine haven. The pavilion renovation project is a finalist in the Scottish Design Awards.
Overseeing a pot of cullen skink for the pavilion’s lunch menu, Pat Wain, a former art teacher and chair of the trust, reflects on the process. “We’ve been messing around here for 12 years, but seriously trying to gain funding for 10 and, in that, many attempts were thwarted,” she says.
A decade of funding has been granted by the Scottish government and Aberdeenshire council, rooted in the conservation of its status as an A-list property, but several conflicts meant its future was threatened continuously.
“At one point two proposed outcomes were to turn it into a lobster hatchery or do nothing,” Wain laments. “I was just so incensed that doing nothing could be an option that three of us got together and formed the beginnings of the committee.”
Registered charity status for the Friends of Tarlair followed in 2013, after the trio were told they couldn’t officially speak at a district meeting. They eventually acquired a 99-year lease on the pavilion and haven’t looked back since. It took a further eight years for a feasibility study to become a priority on the council’s agenda, with tireless campaigning from the trustees to keep the lido. “We carried on doing other things – keeping the rights of way clear, weeding the roads in the bay area, even though the road down here was well broken.”
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In 2020, Tarlair caught the attention of London-based architect, swimmer and author of Sea Pools Chris Romer-Lee. He visited on a bleak day in February and quickly became fixated on the site. A year later, Pat called, asking if he and a business partner at Studio Octopi, James Lowe, would take on the pavilion renovations. Closed since 1996, the mesmerising pools are now a visual spectacle only, and stand next in line for extensive renovations. Planning permission for their restoration will be submitted this summer.
It’s still early in the day, yet streams of visitors circumnavigate the water, their curiosity – like mine – piqued. As a whole, the space is a crater of sorts, nestled below a jagged face of quartzite and limestone, framing a natural inlet once known as Loch Craig. It’s haunting, serene, saturated with nostalgia – a panoramic portal to another time and almost enough to make you forget your train of thought. Yet we’re all wondering: when can we get in?
Cold-water swimmers have been a feature of this bay for centuries, gathering at Salmon Howie, an enchanting sandy cove on the inlet’s edge.
“The lido – it’s as if it grew from the rock,” says Pat, who volunteers on the site six days a week. “Swimmers were always meant to be here.”
Tarlair lido pavilion is open daily, 9.30am-2.30pm, friendsoftarlair.co.uk