I once loved my pond with a passion.

Over 30 years ago we decided to have a pond in the garden.
It gave us many years of pleasure watching and feeding the many fish,over 40 at times,keeping the Heron at bay we even had a Kingfisher all one afternoon ,a friends dog jumped in ,we had to pull him out. There were many incidents over the years.
I remember I fell in once ,totally drenched.
When grandchildren came along daughter in law said it was dangerous ,so we had a strong metal cover made ,which would take our weight.In the summer when water Lillies covered two thirds of the pond ,we removed the cover which gave us a total different aspect ,the fish would feed from our hand.
Now I am much older and was fed up with cleaning the filter two or three times a week and constantly topping it up with tap water (we are on a meter).
It was a huge decision not taken lightly ,so we filled it in using all the brick rubble and rubbish we had accumulated over the years.
We now have an easily managable gravel garden with so many options for the future.




All in all it was a huge adventure over many years ,but when it became a chore it was time.

 

More pond pics.

 

More.

 

That’s it ……for the moment.

 

Sad to see it go @roders, I do know what you mean, they are not a short term project and there always seems to be something to do.

I've thought about getting rid of mine in recent years but could never come up with a plan for getting the fish a new home and I think of all the frogs I'd be evicting.

 

When I left my home of over 25 years, I was worried about the koi in the large pond we'd put in, as I was sure the new owners would fill it in. So I got them adopted by a neighbour with a bigger pond. However on Google satellite, I can see that 7 years later, the pond is still there! (Though my greenhouses and poly tunnel have gone). A pond is always a responsibility, but I think you're right to do it now @roders

 

Looks like it was a lovely pond, @roders. Think of all the wildlife that benefitted down the yrs.

Still, gardens are constantly changing and keeping the management required at an enjoyable level is really important.

 

Lovely pond @roders - such a shame you had to lose it but you have to garden to suit your abilities and circumstances. At least you had years of enjoyment

 

Pete you spoke about getting rid of the fish ,well my wife’s hairdresser has a massive pond so she has them and they are very happy .
Getting them to her pond was a fiasco ,they just didn’t want to go ,putting them into plastic container’s they kept jumping out ,luckily we had lids for the transport.

 

It was a very lovely pond, but without it your is garden is still nice. Shame it's filled with rubble. Soil would've been much better. If ever decided to grow something there.

 

That is a great pity @roders, and you certainly have to work with what suits you and your circumstances, but did you ever consider just making it a simple, smaller wildlife pond once you got the fish away? Changing some of the edging etc. They don't need a lot of effort because you don't need pumps or anything.
I hope you enjoy what you've done though. Lovely place to sit.

 

Could have a little barrel pond if @fairygirl is too busy to pop down and help you move all that rubble out again, @roders!

 

Are you not mightily tempted to turn that nice urn into some kind of water feature @roders ? A little nod to the past?
Still looks like a lovely place to be, and a lot less troublesome.

 

When we moved into our current house it had a large pond, approximately 24 feet by 8 feet, which looked great until I looked closely. It had been made with builders polythene which had deteriorated badly and the pond was leaking. I emptied the pond, relined with butyl rubber, taking the opportunity to shorten it by about 6 feet. That remained in place for a good number of years until the maintenance became a real chore. I managed to rehouse the few remaining fish, and there were surprising few amphibians to move on. It has now been completely backfilled and is a large patio. Much less work to do.