Last year we looked after a friend’s house for a month. This required living on site, feeding the cat, brushing the dog and exercising the pool.
We exercised the pool twice a day and at the end of our time there we had serious pool envy, which has never gone away.
We’re probably among the hundreds of thousands of Kiwis who are suffering from this kind of envy at the moment.
Hopefully, some of you will be planning how to realise the great Kiwi dream of a swimming pool in the garden.
Thanks to some improved technology and construction methods, home swimming pools are no longer the province of the rich and famous.
These days you can find a supplier, order a pool and have it delivered the same week, if not day, for a price that won’t knock your socks off.
However, while paying for it might be a bit easier than it used to be, making all the decisions around ownership remains a challenge.
of all major landscaping decisions, the design and construction of a pool is one of the hardest. It can cause considerable disruption to the surrounding garden and will have to satisfy a number of needs.
He may want a lap pool, she a plunge pool, the teenagers a massive resort-style pool where they can entertain mates and the little ones a plastic thing on the lawn with a blow-up water slide on the side.
If you’re a pretty average Kiwi, your best chance of affording a pool is probably to choose an above-ground, kitset model that can be delivered for you to put together yourself, with a plumber and electrician for the tricky bits.
Some of these pools even incorporate a current so you can effectively combine a lap pool with a plunge pool and kill two birds with one stone.
once the budget has been set, you need to decide where the pool’s going to go. You may want to locate it close to the house and possibly fit it into existing hard landscaping such as a terrace or courtyard. otherwise, you can put it well away from the house and screen it with plants or even a wall.
If you have small children who will be using it, consider how easily they can be supervised if the pool is distant or screened from the house.
Also keep in mind that the further away from the house, the more it will cost to connect to services such as power and water.
When you’ve chosen a couple of locations, grab a line of string and some pegs and mark the area out. This will show you whether there will be room in there to turn around at the end and whether your pool will destroy existing landscaping. You can also get an idea of sun, wind and the impact of existing trees.
You’ll also be able to see how much garden you’ve got left over. A great big pool sounds fabulous, but it’s no fun if there isn’t any room to sit around the edge and relax or if you’ve so wrecked the garden that it feels like a school pool.
Before you phone the pool company, make a call to your local council. They have strict requirements around swimming pools, so you will need to look at resource and building consents, and satisfying other requirements that are often challenging, sometimes difficult, and occasionally prohibitive.
For example, anyone who builds a pool is required to fence it, even if it’s tiny and you think an ant couldn’t drown in it.
The Fencing of Swimming Pools Act requires people with pools (including spa pools) to put fences around them to a height of 1.2m. The fence can only enclose the immediate pool area, but may include things used in association with the pool, such as the changing shed.
on the other hand, you can’t fence the whole back yard and expect to comply with the act, because children generally come and go in these areas freely.
So find a pool company that’s prepared to look after the regulations for you, as well as the design and build, and with luck you’ll be in cool water rather than hot before the end of summer.
Landscaping around pools is often about creating an environment that makes you think you’re in a tropical resort.
Sadly, a bronzed hunk in a lava-lava delivering a piña colada will not be enough to support the illusion if you haven’t got the planting right.
I’ve seen some pools landscaped with paving, river stones, succulents and spiky plants and, while it’s clearly low maintenance, it isn’t a relaxing look.
Unless you’re unfazedby the idea of pricking your bare bits on an unfriendly yucca, it might be worth researching something a little more user-friendly.
Achieving the tropical resort look is surprisingly easy, because as long as you have the right climate, all you really need is palms. They’re the perfect pool plant, because they provide shade when you want it. They drop fronds, rather than leaves, so there’s no vacuuming required.
If you’re not in the winterless north, look at native plants for your pool surrounds. Ponga, ferns, toetoe and grasses can be used to good effect. If you’re clever enough to provide an environment that suits all of them, you’ll have a lovely lush, soft landscape that’s inviting and relaxing.
Add splashes of colour with hibiscus and frangipani – choose either miniature Australian or tropical. or,in colder climates, consider sunflowers, sweet peas and irises. Add a big pot of nasturtiums and you’ll have something to go in the salad as well.
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