Lido Ponty in Pontypridd is the National Lido of Wales, a "unique survivor of the network of open-air...pools that once existed across Wales" according to the Historic Pools website. It was built in 1927 "in a style that was typical of its time, bringing a strong Mediterranean mood to the South Wales Valleys", and is where the singer Tom Jones acquired his first tan. It still has the original 1920s turnstiles and green wooden changing rooms, but is now heated and the cafe offers generous Welsh breakfasts. To end this week of lidos, we must mention The Swimmer, the new biography of Roger Deakin by Patrick Barkham.

Stonehaven Open Air Pool was opened in 1934 and is the the UK's only Olympic-size seawater lido. It is heated and open from late May to early September. Although Roger Deakin did not include it in Waterlog, it would be a perfect fit for the book. A brightly painted, welcoming place with a jolly cafe and huge local support - it is run by a Friends group - it is worth the detour (vaut le détour) as Michelin guides say. 

Roger Deakin was also very taken with the delightful heated pool in Hathersage which not only offers wonderful views of the Peak District as you swim, but also has a bandstand next to it, and an excellent cafe for a post-swim breakfast or toasted teacake. It was opened in 1936, the generous gift of a Sheffield manufacturer of razor blades, and is still run by the parish council. The pool is open from April to September.

The Jubilee Pool in Penzance is the 'largest, most celebrated Art Deco seawater pool in Britain'. It has always been unheated, but a geothermal section in which the water is heated to 30-35C was recently incorporated into the enormous triangular pool. Now owned by the community and Grade II listed, it was opened in 1935. The C20 Society, who fought to save it from redevelopment in 1990 writes, "Jutting out from the Battery Rocks into Mount’s Bay, the tidal pool was an impressive feat of engineering. It is one of the best surviving pieces of Art Deco architecture in the country." Roger Deakin gives a wonderful account of this 'modernist extravaganza' and his swim there in Waterlog. 

The positive influence of Waterlog (1999) by Roger Deakin (1943-2006), continues to grow. As summer finally appears here and opportunities for 'wild' swimming (aka outdoor swimming) present themselves, his messages about freedom of access to clean rivers, pools, seas and lakes resonate more than ever at a time of water quality scandals. Deakin also reminds us of the joys of lidos, mostly built in the 1930s, many of which have survived or been rescued by local groups, so this week we have five of Britain's amazing lidos. This is London Fields Lido (1932), a 50m heated pool, open all year round, and beloved of the people of Hackney. 

After almost becoming obsolete, letterpress is now enjoying a revival, as much as an art form as a way of publishing independently. Expertly typeset artists' books, pamphlets, zines, posters, stationery, and limited editions of books run off rescued presses. It is labour-intensive, but as this week's printers knew, "there's definitely a romance about it", as Claire Battershill says. (Poster by Elisa Tersigni.)

"I have just finished setting up the whole of Mr. Eliots [sic] poem with my own hands, " wrote Virginia Woolf on 8th July, 1923. This was the complex and time-consuming work of hand setting the type for the first edition of The Waste Land for the Hogarth Press; Eliot’s innovative use of line spacing made it one of her most challenging projects. Her meticulous typesetting, printing and bookbinding skills are acknowledged in Women and Letterpress Printing 1920-2020, a fascinating book by Claire Battershill.