Your Pond Questions Answered

A balanced pond needs very little. Skim the leaves in autumn, cut the marginal plants back in late winter and keep an eye on the pump if there is one. No chemicals and no weekly routine.

Smaller ponds and features can take just a few days. Most garden ponds take around a week on site, and larger builds such as koi ponds, or ponds with a long stream or a lot of stonework, can take one to two weeks. We give you the dates before we start.

A pondless waterfall or a self contained water feature gives you the sound and movement of water with no open pool. Where a pond is wanted, we can design shallow margins and gentle edges and talk through covers or fencing. Young children should always be supervised around water.

Very quickly. A pond with shallow edges and plenty of planting is usually found by frogs, newts, dragonflies and birds within its first season.

The planting is what keeps the water clear. Marginal and oxygenating plants use up the nutrients that would otherwise feed algae, shade the water and give wildlife somewhere to live.

It is best not to. Fish eat frogspawn, tadpoles and insect larvae. If you would like fish too, we can build a separate ornamental pond or a koi pond designed for them.

Yes. We regularly add natural stone waterfalls and streams to established ponds. Moving water adds oxygen and movement, and often makes a real difference to the water quality.

A waterfall with no open pool at the bottom. The water runs over the stones and disappears into a bed of cobbles above a hidden reservoir, from where it is pumped back to the top.

Yes, the pump needs a power supply. If there is no suitable outdoor supply where the feature will go, a new one will need to be installed safely, and we will talk you through what is needed.

Yes. LED lighting can be added to most ponds, waterfalls and water features so they can be enjoyed in the evening as well.

Many can run through mild winters, but in freezing weather it is best to switch them off to protect the pump. We will give you advice for your own feature.

Yes, and much of our renovation work is exactly that. Leaks, failed liners and features that have been switched off for a season are usually fixable.

Some water is always lost to evaporation in warm weather. If the level keeps dropping faster than that, there is usually a leak, most often at the edges, in a waterfall or stream, or in the pipework.

For most ponds, autumn is best, once wildlife has finished breeding and before animals settle in for the winter. Small repairs can be carried out at other times of year when they are needed.

Yes. We offer seasonal pond and water feature care, and garden and grounds maintenance plans for homes and businesses.

Most garden ponds are permitted development and need no planning application. If your home is listed, if the pond would sit in front of the house, or if it would sit to the side of a house in a conservation area, check with your local council first.

Great crested newts are protected by law. A new pond is welcome to them, but work that affects a pond where they already live, or the land close to it, may need a licence, so please tell us if you have seen them.

Not all of the time, but we will need access to the garden, an outside tap and a power supply. We agree all of this before we start.

We agree this at the design stage. It can be taken away, or used elsewhere in the garden, for example to build up a bank behind a waterfall.

No. The site visit and the written quotation are both free.

Every pond is different, so we price each one after seeing the garden. The cost depends on the size and depth, the stone and planting, and whether it includes a waterfall, filtration or lighting.

We are based at Willingham and work across Cambridgeshire and just beyond it: Cambridge, Huntingdon, St Neots, Newmarket and Saffron Walden, and the villages around them.

Yes. We are fully insured for all of the work we carry out.

Yes. As well as private gardens, we design, build and maintain ponds and water features for commercial sites.