Natural Swimming Pools/Ponds
Moving on from my homemade readbed project, not only has an industry emerged catering to Water Harvesting, which is a lot less Heath Robinson than my early attempt, there is also a resurgence in wild swimming. See history of wild swimming. Even the BBC broadcast about wild swimming in one of Kate Humble's programmes, 'Off the beaten track'. Unfortunately Iplayer does not have the programme but here are some clips. Kate with Natasha Brooks, explain why. Kate enters the water. Thermals back on.
A very different view of wild water with Kate Silverton.
We were holidaying in the area and found ourselves at Carding Mill Valley Reservoir just as somebody was going for a swim. The signs allow swimming but not on your own. It was evident that she was a regular.
One length done and we don't feel the need to stay for safety's sake, and leave her to her swim.
It looks a beautiful place to swim, very peaceful and quite, with just the bird song. Proper communing with nature.
Some of the comments on Wild Swimming website for this location even suggest skinny dipping is OK.
However, is is eventently cold.
She was careful getting into the water and took it very slowly. Coping with the cold water shock. On the way back down the track, as she overtook us, she was well wrapped up in one of those full length quilted coats. Very cosy, but still looking cold.
However, as beautiful as those spots are, why travel all that way to find seclusion or to take those risks when you can do something closer to home. Well, at home, if you have a large enough garden. and do some water harvesting at the same time.
David Pagan Butler shows how he built his pools.
Another of his, but for somebody else this time.
Other companies make natural swimming ponds as well, and it is the easiest way to show the vast variety. Click on the image to jump to the site.
There are many more examples to search for. If we had the space it would be an attractive option to consider.
The concept of keeping the water clean by using nature is similar to the reed beds we use in our water harvesting.
It is nothing new to have water in the centre of our communities. Either rivers or streams and often the village pond. The village pond could be natural or artificially formed by slowing a stream. There are old photos of children and animals using the village pond in several ways. Farms would also frequently have ponds, or duck ponds.
Having a Natural Swimming Pond seems a very good choice given the required space. The water harvesting could be integrated into the system and provide the top up necessary to replace naturally lost water in the pond. The pond could also be the storage for the water harvesting. The make a good fit.
They can also be more formal, with or without planting, but the later is moving away from the concept, but still without chemicals. They can be heated up to about 30o C using air or ground source heat pumps. They can be indoors or form public pools.