Simon and Lesley Wood
When Simon and Lesley Wood were planning the garden of their Orpington home they made the centrepiece a beautifully landscaped Koi Carp pool – then watched in despair as, within months, it turned into a “green soup”…
More in hope than anticipation, they went to the Grand Designs Exhibition at Easter and came back with a solution as unexpected, he says, as it was effective.
I had never heard of natural swimming ponds and we were thinking of filling in the pool, but talking to Gartenart crystallised our desire to get it right.”
By July, they had got it right: planned, built and handed over with a new filtration system which requires only 20% of the total water surface area.
“We are very happy with the result,” Simon says. "Our key goal was to clean up the water, and we’ve achieved that, plus we wanted plants and flowers to break up the formal, hard landscaping, and we’ve got that.”
“The pond is a real talking-point for visitors. The water is beautifully clear and people are genuinely fascinated by how something so visually pleasing can work so well.
“It’s so much nicer than a pool; there are no nasty smells, and real pleasure to be had from seeing the plantings mature, fill out and change shape and colour with the seasons.”
