At the Pond

Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond

Tucked away along a shady path towards the north-east edge of Hampstead Heath is a sign: Women Only. This is the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond. Floating in the Pond's silky waters, hidden by a canopy of trees, it's easy to forget that you are in the middle of London. On a hot day, thousands of swimmers from eight to eighty-plus can be found waiting to take a dip before sunbathing in the adjoining meadow. As summer turns to autumn and then winter, the Pond is still visited by a large number of hardy regulars in high-vis hats, many of whom have been swimming here for decades. In these essays we see the Pond from the perspectives of writers who have swum there. Esther Freud describes... alles anzeigen expand_more

Tucked away along a shady path towards the north-east edge of Hampstead Heath is a sign: Women Only. This is the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond.

Floating in the Pond's silky waters, hidden by a canopy of trees, it's easy to forget that you are in the middle of London. On a hot day, thousands of swimmers from eight to eighty-plus can be found waiting to take a dip before sunbathing in the adjoining meadow. As summer turns to autumn and then winter, the Pond is still visited by a large number of hardy regulars in high-vis hats, many of whom have been swimming here for decades.

In these essays we see the Pond from the perspectives of writers who have swum there. Esther Freud describes the life-affirming sensation of swimming through the seasons; Lou Stoppard pays tribute to the winter swimmers who break the ice; Margaret Drabble reflects on the golden Hampstead days of her youth; Sharlene Teo visits for the first time; and Nell Frizzell shares the view from her yellow lifeguard's canoe.

Combining personal reminiscence with reflections on the history of the place over the years and through the changing seasons,At the Pond captures fourteen contemporary writers' impressions of this unique place.



Jessica J. Lee is a British-Canadian-Taiwanese author and environmental historian. Her first book, Turning: A Swimming Memoir, was published by Virago in 2017 and named among the best books of the year by both Canadian newspaper the National Post and German newspaper Die Zeit. She has a PhD in Environmental History and Aesthetics and completed her dissertation on the history of Hampstead Heath. She was Writerin-Residence at the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology in Berlin from 2017–2018 and has written for BBC Radio 4, TLS and MUNCHIES, among others. Her second book, Two Trees Make a Forest: A story of memory, migration, and Taiwan, will be published in 2019 by Virago. Jessica lives in Berlin.

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  • SW9781911547402110164

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  • Artikelnummer SW9781911547402110164
  • Autor find_in_page Jessica J. Lee, Amy Key, So Mayer, Sophie Mackintosh, Ava Wong Davies, Nina Mingya Powles, Deborah Moggach, Sharlene Teo, Leanne Shapton, Esther Freud, Margaret Drabble, Eli Goldstone, Nell Frizzell
  • Autoreninformationen Jessica J. Lee is a British-Canadian-Taiwanese author and… open_in_new Mehr erfahren
  • Wasserzeichen ja
  • Verlag find_in_page Daunt Books
  • Seitenzahl 160
  • Veröffentlichung 20.06.2019
  • ISBN 9781911547402

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