A birthday present

Posted by Amanda on Jan 20, 2011 in Pond renovation, Projects | 0 comments

One of my lucky clients was given a pond renovation ‘voucher’ as one of her birthday presents.  My brief was pure and simple – rejuvenate the pond!

In the context of the garden, I want to maintain wildlife and bird watching elements as this a key part of their garden enjoyment, but the pond surround was out-dated and needed a contemporary twist in keeping with the house interior and their way of life.

The garden slopes away from the house and is generous and well-proportioned but the height of trees and shrubs in the borders knocked proportion out of balance. My first task was to restore harmony in the garden and allow in more light. I did this by removing some small trees and lowering surrounding dense hedging which allowed selected mature trees air-space to display their magnificent shapes and shadows.

The second step was to remove the old pond surround and spoil heap giving us a clean and tidy space with which to work. The pond foundations were in good condition so we were able to re-line it and position reclaimed stones at the pond edges to allow newts and frogs easy access. New 600 x 300mm black limestone slabs were laid uncut to create deep shadows at the waters edge and add visual tension to the mirrored surface.

Now the hard-landscaping is complete, we can move on to luscious planting and delicate lighting, bringing the whole area to life, day and night!  More on this in the coming weeks and months…