"I first saw the concept in one of those lifestyle magazines." she says. "The article pitted the natural swimming pond against conventional swimming pools and, for me, there really was no contest.

"I wanted to be able to sit and look out from the garden and see nothing unnatural.  I wanted the pond to be part of a view that flowed seamlessly from the garden to the countryside beyond.”

Survey, January 2009

"I talked to a couple of companies about what I wanted to do but they were quite hesitant, as if they weren’t totally confident they could do the job.  I must say I was very interested in the GartenART website, and when I contacted them, Tim came to see us and just seemed to understand what we wanted.

“The company gives the impression they know what they are doing, basically.  They also give you options for construction, so we were able to use a friend for the excavation and GartenART did the rest."

 Excavation, March 2009

“I was expecting a lot more mess and, frankly, more delays, but it was slick, quick and clean.”  In fact, the only problem with a project which kept to time and budget despite incorporating complex stonework and a waterfall feature was with the electrician, “and that was down to us”.

Sandbag dividing wall over the liner, March 2009

Sacha uses the word “natural” a lot.  It is the mainspring of her enthusiasm for swimming ponds and the heartbeat of her argument with friends who worried about “swimming with plants”.

 “A few thought I was mad.  They said it would be freezing cold and would cost a lot to keep clean and maintain.  Even my husband was worried to start with, but he loves it now and my kids absolutely adore it.  Temperature is not an issue – they just jump in and so do I.  I love the idea of swimming with plants and, frankly, they do a fantastic job of keeping the pond clean without chemicals.”

 May 2009

Bearing in mind her friends’ initial doubts, we asked Sacha what one argument she would use to convert a stranger.

“Oh, the natural beauty of it.  The way it grows and becomes part of the garden.  But of course I couldn’t stop there: I’d have to tell him about the lovely clean feeling of the water and the joy of swimming without chemicals like chlorine that we really shouldn’t be allowing near our skin. 

"Just this last weekend for example we've been in it all the time.  It's absolutely fantastic."

May 2009