The very first water feature I ever saw in a garden was at a rather stately home in Nelson. It was an imposing Italian-style fountain topped with a statue of a woman in a flowing dress carrying, oddly enough, a duck. Well, something feathered with a bill, anyway. I was about 10 and was fascinated by this, so I pestered my father for several months to build a fountain at home. He declined and it was three and a half decades before I got my first water feature.
It was nothing like the one at the Nelson house, because I was strapped for money at the time, but it probably gave me as much pleasure – even though it didn’t have a lady with a duck. And it achieved the same result – introducing the sound of water to the garden and adding a nice focal point.
If excavating a serious hole for a complicated water feature is not on the agenda, there are many options you can achieve quickly, easily and inexpensively. Without a doubt, the easiest solution is to find a waterproof vessel (or one you can make waterproof by sealing it) and fill it with water. A terracotta, ceramic or concrete basin is likely to be more appealing than a plastic bucket, so keep that in mind.
Like all garden features, it will need a pleasant setting, so start at the ground and create a flat surface with pavers, stone chip or decking to sit it on. Nothing is more irritating for those of us with level eyes than a pond on a tilt. Broken tiles or pavers will do – you can create an interesting mosaic design and fill the gaps with shell, tumbled glass or whatever takes your fancy. Either put your basin directly on your pavers or set it on a plinth.
Depending on your style, a piece of concrete or sandstone, or a base of railway sleepers or old timber, will give you some height. Wherever you have sited your water feature, add something to sit on and something for shade – an umbrella or tree – so you can relax and dangle your feet.
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