It really is a fine example of capitalizing on ‘borrowed landscape’. It was their intention to site the swimming pond in a little used part of the garden some distance from the house to create an element of surprise and justification for going there.
A swimming pool had been a feature of a previous home, but it was thought that a natural swimming pond would be far more appropriate within their present landscape and the opportunity to swim in soft rainwater held great appeal. The ecological benefits were also to be capitalized on which would add bio-diversity to the garden.
To this end, native plants were selected to partially enclose the100m² swimming pond (50m2swimming area) and included Eupatorium cannabinum (hemp agrimony) and Fillipendula ulmaria (meadowsweet). The regeneration zone in this case surrounds the swimming area, where water lilies will further soften the outline of the internal wall in time.
Amongst an array of wildlife that has been attracted into the garden during the first season, a kingfisher has been a regular visitor to the swimming pond (probably feeding on dragonfly larvae) and as Mike Bell stated “You wouldn’t see one of those near a conventional swimming pool“!
