Rupert and Jo Weston, Bedfordshire
Jo and Rupert Weston live on a farm in Bedfordshire, with their daughter and granchildren also living on the same site...
Tim: How did you decide to have a swimming pond?
Jo: I found out about you online, it would have been after reading a magazine... My daughter had been wanting a swimming pool, and I said there's no way I'm spoiling my garden with one of those.
Tim: Were you always thinking of converting the pond?
Jo: No, originally we were thinking of having a separate one. But then you came and we talked about converting the pond that was there already.
Tim: So three years on now, has it matched what you thought it would be?
Jo: Well it has for me, I love it. But sometimes you've got friends who say hmmph you won't get me in there. We've got a lot of friends though who go in it an awful lot, they come and bring their swim suits. And they're friends who love nature and who love the countryside and swallows darting down when you're swimming. They love it because they're nature lovers really, whereas the others, they want a horrible chlorine thing.
Those that do go in love it. They might say oh it's a bit cold but they can't wait to go in. And you don't feel cold once you're in.
I try and swim every day in the summer, and I try to swim 20 lengths. Rupert does 10 lengths. He enjoys it.
Tim: Do you use that area for things other than swimming?
Jo: Yes because on the farm it's difficult to get any privacy, so we go to sit out there after lunch.
The water draws you out there. The water is very different in the converted pond compared to the other one. This one is obviously nicer because of the plants and the water is clear and a lovely colour.
Tim: Is there anything not as good as you would want it?
Jo: Not for me - I'm not a perfectionist and I like it as it is. I'm not a meticulous person, and I say to the grandchildren let's go fishing and we take the leaves out. I think it's good for children.
My father in law had swimming pools - and the work involved was incredible. It's not easy cleaning chlorine pools - people think it is but it's not. The pond needs cleaning too but it's less and it's pleasurable.
So I think it's lovely.
Tim: What would you say to someone who isn't quite sure?
Jo: Well I think it's about the sort of person you are. If you are a more relaxed sort of person then I think it's more enjoyable to have a pond like this. I never found my father-in-law's pools very relaxing.
I always think there are two types of people in this world - those who like to have clean shoes and those who can't be bothered with them! I don't think a swimming pond would appeal to people who don't like to get their shoes dirty, you know, people who always have immaculately polished shoes, I don't think it would appeal to them.
Jo: People with manicured gardens, with the lawn shaved, and plants in the garden standing to attention. Those sort of people I would say wouldn't want a swimming pond. It's not for that sort of person - who is very meticulous like that.
But I think people are starting to become more natural aren't they?
Jo: I like it - it teaches the children many things, like fishing for tadpoles, looking around the rocks, seeing the plants growing, seeing the swallows diving, seeing the damselflies... the children just love it, it doesn't matter what the weather. They just run straight in, no matter what the temperature is. The children are just drawn to it, they don't feel the cold. I'm sure it's good for them.
I was always convinced I'd want one but Rupert wasn't sure. He loves it now though. He wasn't sure about doing something so new, so I had to drip feed him. He loves it now, he's quite proud of it.
