At the Pond : Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond

At the Pond is a collection of fourteen personal essays celebrating the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond on Hampstead Heath in London, with contributions from writers including Margaret Drabble, Esther Freud, Sophie Mackintosh and others.

Each essay offers a different perspective on this women-only swimming spot, a hidden sanctuary within the city visited year-round by swimmers of all ages, some of whom even break the ice to swim through winter.

Blending personal memory, history and reflection, the collection captures both the simple physical pleasure of open-water swimming and the deeper sense of community, ritual and escape the pond offers its regulars.

It is as much a book about friendship, ageing, grief and the body as it is about a particular stretch of water.