"When you have swum in natural water I think you develop a love of it. Then you want to replicate it in your garden. It's like wild swimming - but your very own wild swimming experience where no-one else is going to disturb you."
Rowena Moore East Sussex
"It's had a lot of use – we've used it more than we used the swimming pool. Even when it's not been fantastically sunny we've been in it and it's been very enjoyable."
Jeff Roberts - Hertfordshire
"The whole family loves it. We all swim in it, but the girls are also fascinated by the wildlife that congregates around the planted area. As for me, I'm drawn to the space in a way I would never be with a conventional pool. I just want to sit out here with a cup of tea, absorb the peace and contemplate the world."
Sean Moore - East Sussex
"Walking over the stepping stones is hugely satisfying. In the summer the children will walk backwards and forwards over these stepping stones for hours, and they see little things creeping about. It's beautiful. The kids spend hours here, just hours and hours."
Rowena Moore - East Sussex
"It teaches the children many things, like fishing for tadpoles, looking around the rocks, seeing the plants growing, seeing the swallows diving, seeing the damselflies... the children just love it, it doesn't matter what the weather. They just run straight in, no matter what the temperature is. The children are just drawn to it, they don't feel the cold. I'm sure it's good for them."
Jo Weston - Bedfordshire
"The water is beautifully clear and people are genuinely fascinated by how something so visually pleasing can work so well."
Simon Wood - Kent
"If feels silky. Also after the children have been in you don't have to worry about them having a bath afterwards.
Rosy Rathbone - Buckinghamshire
"You're much more likely to be outside. Even in the winter we'll go up there. I've bought a little fire and you can go up there and still enjoy it with the little fire going."
Patricia Birch - Essex
"Everyone who has seen our natural pool has been enchanted with its beauty at all times of year."
Michael Price - Midlands
"I think the main thing though is that it looks lovely all year round. Everyone I know who has chlorinated pool puts a cover on it in September and that stays there until Easter. Even in the winter you look at this and your eye is completely drawn to it."
Mary Norris - Hampshire
"We wondered whether the temperature would put us and particularly the children off. In fact the children were in the water pretty much every day all the way through the summer, and quite a long way into the autumn with wetsuits."
Oliver Morgan - Suffolk
"The water temperature is much better than we expected. We have seen averages of 23 and 24 degrees for long periods."
Toby Burton - Oxfordshire
"Last year we swam most days from May 15th to the end of September. We have no added heating, as it has proved to be unnecessary."
Michael Price - Midlands
“I say to the grandchildren let’s go fishing and we take the leaves out. I think it’s good for children. My father-in-law had swimming pools – and the work involved was incredible. It’s not easy cleaning chlorine pools – people think it is but it’s not. The pond needs cleaning too but it’s less and it’s pleasurable.”
Jo Weston - Bedfordshire
"As for chemicals, well, none of us wants to be swimming in chlorine any more. Also we don’t have to change the water as you do with a conventional pool."
Suzie Warwick - Greece
"It’s lovely. It’s to do with being outside, there is something elemental about it, the fact that there are bats flying about at night, the fact that the water quality is so good that we have baby newts, damselflies, dragonfly larvae, it’s fascinating."
Mary Norris - Hampshire