This is a project I previously posted about on the old site.
I had an old pump and stone trough that had belonged to my parents, and decided it would look nice incorporated into our pond as a water feature.
The idea was to improve the looks of the existing pond water flow arrangements.
View from our back door. Before.
First of all I brought in a surveyor to cast her eye over the existing setup.
To start with I had to dismantle the old cascade and remove a load of loose bricks from the top of the Ha-Ha.
Next I had to relocate the water pipe which involved tunnelling under said Ha-Ha. The hole is where the outflow used to be.
Building the splash basin and retaining wall.
The concrete pad is for the stone trough in the foreground to sit on.
Continuing the splash wall.
I had the presence of mind to “walk” the trough into the basin before finishing the wall. There is no way I could have lifted the trough over afterwards.
My Auntie/MiL commented that the trough looked like a tombstone.
Splash basin covered in crazy paving and a test firing with the old pump just placed to check for leaks and flow direction.
At this point it was realised that the pump would need to be painted a light colour so it could be seen against the dark green background.
Core! The rock was so hard that my drill packed up and I had to go out and buy a new one.
A visit from the inspectors, Fred and Freda.
Threading the water pipe through the rock,
through the pump body,
and out the spout.
On the level. To ensure accuracy I bought and fitted a brace of brand new calibrated spirit level bubbles from my local hardware shop.
Flow alignment check.
Handle installed and milk churn planters set. How’s it looking Ellie?
It all looks okay here Dad; just make sure you grab the correct handle.
View from the back door. After.
The electric pump that feeds the new water feature is under the fish feeding deck.
The corrugated pipe I had used kept blocking, so I replaced it recently with a bigger bore smooth pipe to increase the water flow and reduce the risk of blockages. I also raised the pump and trough a little to increase the visual splash effect.
At some point I’m going to raise the height of the splash wall, and narrow the flume in an attempt to increase the “white-water” effect of the flow down the channel.
