An outdoor pool might not be top of your list when it comes to holiday must-haves in this country, but plenty of UK hotels have them (usually in addition to an indoor version). Here are five of the country’s finest.At Cowley Manor, in Gloucestershire, the 15m outdoor pool is part of the C-Side spa complex and close to the hotel’s 17m indoor pool. The outdoor pool is open all year round but during the summer months is has a bar serving cocktails, waiter service, sunbeds and music. There’s a faint whiff of scandal about the outdoor pool at Cliveden, in Berkshire: this is where Christine Keeler first met John Profumo, an encounter that was to change the course of British politics. Set in the secluded spa garden, the pool is the last remaining listed outdoor pool in England. The Romanesque indoor pool at Hampshire’s Chewton Glen is so popular with guests you might find you have the outdoor pool pretty much to yourself. The large heated pool is furnished with comfortable sun loungers and surrounded by landscaped gardens and trees. The large heated pool at The Grove, in Herfordshire, is set in the hotel’s Walled Garden, which also offers a separate kids’ pool, volleyball court, tennis courts and a beach. The terrace pool at The Nare, in Cornwall, has views across the gardens and Carne Beach and out to sea. It’s heated so perfect for those who fancy a dip but can’t bring themselves to brave the English Channel.

BY MAGGIE O’SULLIVAN