Pond (2019 - ...)
This is the pond as it was in August 2020, about 14 months after the spade hit the dirt in the original build. The gallery will detail the evolution of the pond over the last 5 years. I will update this video from time to time.
The journey ...
The pond came about on a spur of the moment decision. My initial plan for this section was to create a wildflower/meadow space around the apple tree. This section of the garden is what we call the “bottom garden” and was once an apple and pear orchard (part of Lady Cave’s estate). It was a brief conversation with my wife that shifted me from my initial aim … “You could always put a pond in there” was an off the cuff (but extremely insightful) comment she made. As soon as I’d heard those words my plans changed. It was one of those moments when clarity hit me like a shaft of light. Not quite an epiphany … but not far off. I was transported to my childhood and fantastic memories of time with my mates searching for frogs, newts, etc. This was an opportunity …and I was all over it! For the curious, the structure at the head of the pond is what we call the “The Bothy”. You can see its origins and development in the “Hard Landscaping” section of the site.
Once the decision had been made, many more decisions whirled around in my head, the most pertinent of which was “How do you build a pond?”. As with many such decisions my first port of call was Doctor YouTube. The basic principles were easily grasped, it wasn’t rocket science but there were still considerations thatI wouldn’t have been aware of had I not looked for instruction. Depth, layering, protection of the pond liner, and escape routes for wildlife were a few of the areas I had to learn about. After that, it was just a case of dig, dig, dig.
It probably took about a week to get the “foundations” in place. Filling the pond was something else I’d thought about. Rather than run a (very long) hose from the house and fill it with tap water, I decided to use a watering can and fill it from the small stream that ran a the very bottom of the garden, some 15 feet away. My thinking was that this was more natural and might encourage some of the wildlife that already lived in and around the stream. Over 200 cans of water later … job done.
Emerging from Winter …
More to come