Mary and Matt Norris, Hampshire
Mary and Matt Norris live in the New Forest, and for them the decision to get a swimming pond was largely kid-driven...
“The children were outgrowing the trampoline in the garden, and that had given a huge amount of enjoyment. So we started to think about the next thing that would last for years and years and considered a swimming pool.” says Mary. “I just did not want a turquoise rectangle, so when I found the Gartenart website I said ‘That’s what we want!’
“One of the reasons I chose Gartenart was because I could see they had that German technology and support behind them. For us having a pond was a major investment so it was important to get it right, to have crystal clear water, and to have people that listened to us."
“Gartenart were brilliant, I cannot fault them. Ohad and Chris [the construction team] were great, they were really, really good.
“It’s now such an integral part of the garden and it always will be. Everybody who has come here has said ‘Wow! That is amazing.’
“We use the natural pond in a completely different way than we would a chlorinated pool. It’s lovely. It’s to do with being outside, there is something elemental about it, the fact that there are bats flying about at night, the fact that the water quality is so good that we have baby newts, damselflies, dragonfly larvae, it’s fascinating."
“Our children’s friends now arrive with their swimming trunks and say “Can we go in the pond? Can we go in the pond?” They pond dip, they search for things, they splash, they have their surf boards in there.
“People think temperature is an issue but it’s not. It is amazing how quickly the water warms up because of the shallow area and how little the children care – they just jump in. We had James’ birthday party and he was nine and I had these boys stripping down and jumping in as a dare because it was only 17 degrees at that point, and they loved it!”
“We’ve got a heron that stands on the jetty every now and then, a kingfisher, baby newts, toads and frogs. The children love the newts and the tadpoles which are great fun. So it is a natural ecosystem and I completely subscribe to that.
“I do say to people it’s not maintenance free. You do still have to skim and vacuum it. I would never swap it though. It’s like having a great big flowerbed in your garden. You have to tidy it, you have to weed it, you have to take the leaves out from it and trim it. I like the time spent on it though - I have a very personal relationship with it.
“For Matt it’s a complete antidote to the day, jumping in when he gets back in the evening. There’s not one moment that we thought we’d made the wrong decision. Not once.”
