A New Project

At the end of the garden we have our first pond, built in the summer of 2008, and featured in this post. That pond was originally planned to be a goldfish pond, but soon upgraded filtration allowed the birth of our love for koi, resulting in the large pond many of you are familiar with.

As it looked in 2008

Roll forward to 2020 and with lockdown limiting travel we decided that it was time to upgrade the pond and give the area a makeover.

How it looked last summer

The initial focus was on replacing the old fences and clearing the somewhat ramshackle old shed adjacent to the pond. The shed was inherited when we moved into our home in 2005 and has had various repairs over the years. Sadly it was beyond saving, with woodworm and rot overtaking the timbers. 

The fence between us and our neighbour coming down to make way for a replacement. 

Our neighbour has a large block built shed that provides privacy and shelter, but is not the most attractive feature. But we have plans to change how this is viewed. 

Demolition of the old shed underway. The roof off, only the walls to pull down.

I must confess to enjoying the demolition a little too much!

The site of the shed now cleared, the back of the old water fall can be seen. However this waterfall isnt planned to part of the new design so out comes the trusty hammer and chisel to start to dismantle.

The old waterfall giving up its secrets, 13 September 2008.

The base of the old shed is extended slightly to maximise the space.

And we were soon starting construction of the replacement building.

As the weekends pass by the shape of the new shed and filter house starts to become apparant.

We opted for a duel pitch roof, which was rather fiddly to work our quite how we would make this work, but with several sketches and a little trial and error we managed to get the roof how we wanted it. 

With a tarpaulin keeping the frame dry, we wrapped it in a membrane. 

Before starting the task of tiling the roof.

That neighbouring shed proved a useful alternative to a scaffold when tiling that side of the building. 

The garden side proved a little trickier to tile. We didn't really have space to erect a scaffold, so worked from the inside, tiling the roof in sections. 

To finish off the roof on the pond side, a decorative finial was selected. We spent a lot of time deciding what style to go for, the colour, as well as the size. Wanting something that didn't look too twee, but also not too big, but still noticeable. We think this little dragon fits in with the rest of the garden without being too over the top or disney-esque.

The roof tiles were a bargain from facebook marketplace. At first we thought we had too many - but in the end we used far more than expected tiling the roof.

With a break from the project for Christmas and wet weather we are now in the middle of the wood cladding.

So what next? well firstly we will aim to post updates a little more regularly as the project develops.  The long task list ahead, includes finishing off all the wood cladding, painting, external lighting and outdoor plug sockets before we then move back to finishing the shed interior. 

The patio is to have custom built furniture to fit the space - designed by Mark, I just have to put it into reality. with plug sockets and lighting concealed on the existing pergola.  

Once that's all done the focus will move back to the pond, the intention is to partially demolish before extending, and adding upgraded filtration.

And then the focus will be back to the patio area itself to finish off. 

A busy few weeks ahead!

Gaz

Posted in: Alternative Eden , exotic garden blog , goldfish , Pond build , Shed