The pool
Twelve metres long and 1.4 m deep throughout, heated to 28°C. It's long enough for lengths, and short enough that you end up counting a lot of them. It splits into two lanes when busy, which isn't often.
01
Gymzaal Spa
The school gymnasium, minus the ropes
The gym hall is at the back of the building, a tall room with a sprung floor that generations of children were made to run around. The wall bars came off in the conversion and are stacked in the cellar in case anyone wants them back. Now it holds a sauna, a steam room, a twelve-metre lap pool, a cold tap and four loungers.
It's small and quiet, and it comes with the room. Only the two treatment rooms need booking. Towels and robes are in the cupboard by the door, and the one rule we enforce is that used ones go in the basket.
Hours
- Pool and sauna: 06:30–22:00 daily
- Steam room: 15:00–22:00
- Treatment rooms: 10:00–20:00, booked at reception
- Quiet hour, no children: 20:00–21:00
Under-16s only with an adult, and not at all during the quiet hour.
02
What is in there
Four things worth knowing about
The sauna
Finnish and dry at 85°C, with room for ten on two tiers. It's mixed and swimwear-free, and there's a wrap in the cupboard if you'd prefer one. The sand timer by the door is the only clock.
The steam room
Tiled in the same green as the old school corridors, because the tiler had a box left over. Eucalyptus on Thursdays, and room for six at a push.
Treatments
Two rooms off the changing area, mostly for massage, given by three therapists who also work elsewhere in Groningen. Book a day ahead through reception.
03
The courtyard
Where the playground was, now planted
Planted in the courtyard
- Hornbeam hedging on three sides
- Three birches where the climbing frame stood
- Crocus and narcissus from late February
- Forty chairs from April
The building encloses the courtyard on three sides and the old boundary wall closes the fourth. The asphalt came up in the conversion, and in its place went gravel, hornbeam hedging, three birches and a lot of bulbs that were a gamble and turned out well.
Benches run along the wall, there's a tap, and one corner gets the sun from midday until about six in summer. Guests read out there, the kitchen staff eat lunch there, and from April De Kantine sets out forty chairs and serves there too. In winter it's empty and wet, and surprisingly good at dusk.
The bike shelter stands at the north end, where the sheltered play area was. Sixty bikes live under it.
04
House rules for the spa
Few in number, each with a reason
- Shower before the pool and before the sauna. The filtration is small and it notices.
- No phones or cameras anywhere past the changing-room door.
- No glass. Reception will lend you a metal bottle.
- No alcohol in the sauna or the pool. The bar is three minutes away and will still be there.
- Tell reception if you have a heart condition, are pregnant, or are unsure. It's better for staff to know.