Two ponds Interconnected By a Waterfall
One of my projects saw the completion of the renovation of two ponds interconnected by a winding waterfall.
On my first visit to the garden, it was very apparent that the ponds and waterfall needed some TLC. A lot of the pond liner was on show, inside the ponds, around the edges of the ponds and throughout the waterfall. The pond levels were lower at the front than at the back, so the ponds couldn’t be filled completely up and hide the pond liner. At the bottom of the waterfall, the pond liner was leaking water out of the system, as it was laid under the bottom pond liner. It was all very strange how the ponds and waterfall were poorly constructed.
The brief
The brief was to renovate the ponds and waterfall to ensure that the water level was higher within the ponds, the stones around the edges over hung the side to help hide as much of the pond liner as possible, to create a waterfall that also hid as much of the pond liner as possible and created the sound of water falling and trickling through stone. The final part was to hide the cables and tubing from the pump as much as possible.
The main slate stones and much of the slate shingle were moved out of the way before the pond liner and felt underlay could be removed. The sides of both ponds were then made as level as possible. New felt underlay was installed along with a new single sheet of pond liner which covered both ponds and the interconnecting and winding waterfall.
The big slate stones were then carefully placed around the edges of the pond and waterfall, before being cemented into place. The main ledges within the waterfall were also cemented into place. After the cement had cured for a few weeks, the cement was then painted with a special pond cement sealer and left to dry for a few more days.
It was then time to make the final touches to the outside of the ponds and to re-create the waterfall, breaking up many of the larger slate stones in order that dry stone walls could be made around each of the miniature ponds within the waterfall.
A new pump combined with UV filter was installed by the client, and all the tubing was then concealed within the liner and under the stones surrounding the pond. The pump was switched on and a few tweaks were needed to make the waterfall work perfectly.
