Vobster Quay Wild Swimming

Vobster Quay is a 36-acre flooded quarry in Somerset, five miles from Frome and four from Radstock. Spring-fed water, lab-tested. Scuba and freediving share the hole with the swim loops, so you are not in a private training lake. Marked courses at 330m, 550m and 750m; a 140m winter route when they scale it back. RLSS open-water lifeguards on swim sessions. You go because it is a proper quarry circuit with a café, a shop and two car parks, and because you can book a slot. You also go knowing it is members-only most of the year. If you are not 16, you are not swimming. If you cannot do 400m continuously over deep water, you are not swimming either.

Getting in

Members-only, year-round, pre-booked. There is no casual gate. Full swim membership is £51.50 for 12 months; off-peak is £36. Session entry for members is £6.50. Book one session a day, up to 14 days ahead, at app.vobster.com. Do not arrive more than 15 minutes early. Leave at the end of the slot. Fail to cancel and they may still charge you.

As of late August 2026 they were only selling off-peak swim memberships. Full memberships were not on sale. Off-peak members get first crack at full when it reopens; you then pay the pro-rata difference. Memberships do not auto-renew. You pay again through the portal or you are out.

Tuesday is the non-member day: 31 March to the end of September 2026. Three lifeguarded sessions, 08:00–10:00, 10:00–12:00 and 12:00–15:30. Register as a swimmer on the portal, accept the terms, book up to four weeks ahead. Do not turn up. The Tuesday fee sits on the booking screen, not as a published tariff on the swim page.

Members can invite one guest per session, same slot, same activity. Once a session is 90% full, guest adds stop. Guests must finish registration before they arrive or they can be refused. Bring a bright cap. Wetsuit is advised; skins means a non-wetsuit declaration. Caps and tow floats are in the shop if your guest has neither.

The swim

A quarry, not a beach. Choose the 330m, 550m or 750m loop; clockwise on the marked course, or the coaching area. The 750m was back for summer 2026. Winter they cut it to 140m. Surface temperature on 19 August 2026 was 21°C. That is a reading, not a promise.

Divers are in the same water. Do not swim over bubbles. Divers can come up fast. Bright cap is mandatory. You need to be able to swim 400m without stopping, tread water for a minute, and have done open water before. Lifeguards are on the sessions, so you no longer need a buddy or a land spotter.

Onsite catering, benches, the Heatwave fire-pit wall. Two car parks, about 150 spaces. Shop for hats and floats. Water tested by a UKAS lab. Satnav via Mells Cottages lane is a dead end. Search “Vobster Quay”, not the postcode, and turn right towards Kilmersdon / Radstock at that crossroads.

Worth knowing

Under-10s are not allowed on site, including toddlers in chairs. 10–13s need a non-swimming adult or a 14-year-old with them. 14–15s can sit at the water. Swimming itself starts at 16, with their own registration and email. This is not a family splash quarry.

It is a working dive site with a swim product bolted on. If you want a PAYG gravel lake you can book any day without joining, this is the wrong Somerset. Tuesday non-member sessions exist; the rest of the week you join, or you come as a member’s guest.

Glow swims (Harvest Moon 25 September 2026, Hunter’s Moon 23 October 2026) and aquathlons sit on the calendar. Members get earlier access. Check the PDF hours for the season you are in — summer 2026 ran 2 May–25 September — before you assume a weekend 08:00 start.