AN UNEXPECTED message from someone I didn’t know earlier this week gave us a reason to have a trip to Bilsdean, just within East Lothian’s county border. The message was from Susan Somerville, who lives nearby with her husband David.

Susan had contacted me with a story about a trip she took with David to see Lady Hall’s Pool, an outside ‘swimming pool’ with a difference, and interesting history.

She had been chatting with a friend about the benefits of sea swimming and her friend had mentioned this pool. Susan had been previously unaware of it and so decided to go find it with her husband.

When they got there, the tide was helpfully out, revealing the pool. She took some photos and a film of it, but when she returned home and looked at the film, she felt sure she could see a ghostly image in the water of the pool.

This led Susan to research images of Lady Helen Hall and she reckoned the image looked like her. Was it a ghostly apparition in the water or a trick of the light? Well, people can make their own mind up, but for me, Susan’s message made me curious to find this pool and learn more about Lady Hall, after which it is named.

So we made it a family weekend trip of discovery, which usually take place within the boundaries of East Lothian even in the best of times; so this was perfect. Bilsdean and nearby Dunglass are favourite places of mine, as you will know if you read my column regularly. Despite the busy A1 passing through, the whole area has a fascinating history and the walk following the burn down Bilsdean Glen has an enchanting waterfall. Reaching this walk from the village is hazardous, however, as an unsafe crossing over the fast-flowing A1 is required, so much care is needed if you go this way.

We didn’t have much time. The timetable of the tides was against us, as was the dying light of a winter’s afternoon. However, we managed to reach the beach with just enough light and time to have our adventure. Susan and David were waiting for us and we made our distanced greetings and they headed in front to see if the pool had been uncovered by the receding tide.

This part of the coast is utterly fascinating. There is a lot of erosion here, and whenever I come I see new geological features and wonder about them. I’m no geologic expert, but I’m sure we spotted a chunk of ancient volcanic lava which seems to have solidified in mid flow; a moment in Earth’s story from millions of years ago.

It was from near here, of course, that the geologist James Hutton was taken in 1788 by Sir James Hall, Lady Hall’s husband, on a boat ride to nearby Siccar Point, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But it wasn’t to retell the story of already-well-known men from history that we made this trip. It was to discover a place associated with a woman who, despite her achievements and talents, was ignored by history, as most women have been until recently.

It was indeed an adventure to find her pool, for we had to scramble over wet rocks to get there. Our young children took it in their stride and my youngest Lewis was looking out for evidence of dinosaurs. There are steps cut in the rocks nearby and so I suspect Lady Hall had a more convenient route to reach her pool, but we had no time to search for that.

When we arrived at the pool, the tide was not fully out so it was still partly submerged, but enough was revealed of the cut rock to show the outline of Lady Hall’s Pool. I could just see what looked like the small steps cut by its side.

Susan and David told me of the local tradition that she would come down to bathe in the sea water. Perhaps this was frowned upon, given it was the 18th century and she was a lady of high aristocratic status. But the story goes that her determination to regularly bathe in the sea led to the creation of this pool, which captures the sea as it goes out, making it a safer place to swim in this rocky coastline.

I did not know of this pool before Susan contacted me, and I knew next to nothing about Lady Hall, she was just another aristocratic name. But now, as I stood on the edge of the pool which bears her name, I became intrigued as I listened to the story.

I saw no ghostly image of Lady Hall in the water, yet I felt her presence in the twilight. The sun had already vanished from the sky and a beautiful moon was rising above the sea. It was cold but calm; a perfect moment for a ghostly introduction. While I had not seen Lady Hall with my eyes, I now felt we had been introduced by her story, thanks to Susan.

We chatted on our return about stories and the importance of enchantment and magic when growing up. Susan and her husband had given my family a winter’s afternoon of discovery and adventure. Two-hundred years separate Susan and Lady Helen Hall, but there was a connection between them. Two remarkable women from the area who shared a love of the landscape and the stories it’s steeped in.

And now I must source the book Lady Hall – Lang-heidit Lady, written by another local woman, Sally Wilson. She spent years researching the life of Lady Hall and, based on the titbits I’ve managed to see, it looks fascinating.

But I will also return to the pool. There may be other stories attached to it, and now our story is part of it too. We plan to return in the summer, when the tide is out, and have a swim.

That is, if the ghost of Lady Hall isn’t in it already!