How a Natural Pool Is Built

From first sketch to first swim

Every pool starts with a visit and ends with a swim. Four stages, a clear timeline and an honest guide price before you commit. Designed and built across Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Design plans, drawings and a tape measure laid out on a garden table
One. Design consultation

Free, with no obligation. We visit, listen, photograph and measure, then design in CAD around your house and garden. You get a proposal with plans and an honest guide price.

A completed natural swimming pond with planted margins and flowering perennials beside a country house
Two. See it first

The design is brought to life so you see your finished pool on screen, in your own space, before committing. Shape, planting and materials can all be adjusted at this stage.

Nothing arrives as a surprise

You see the pool before it exists, you know the price before we start, and you know how long the site will be in use. A typical build runs around 8 to 16 weeks depending on size, ground conditions and access, with 2 to 4 weeks of design work before that.

A pool under construction, with the chamber excavated, timber formwork in place and a digger on site
Three. Construction

Excavate and form the swimming chamber, set the submerged oak beam, install filtration and circulation, then lay decking, edges and planting. Clear timeline, tidy site, estate-grade finish.

Reeds and water lilies filling out the planted margin of a settled pool
Four. Aftercare

The pool settles over its first season as the planting establishes. Care is seasonal rather than daily, and ongoing aftercare is there if you want it.

DESIGN AND BUILD

What each stage involves

A contemporary timber and glass house beside a dark living pool

Design and visualisation

The first two stages are about getting the design right on paper and on screen, while changes still cost nothing. We would rather spend an extra week here than have you settle for a pool that only nearly works.

Before anything is dug

A free site visit. We look at levels, ground conditions, light, access and how you use the garden.

A CAD design drawn around the house and garden, with plans, a proposal and an honest guide price.

The design brought to life on screen, so you can move around it and adjust shape, planting and materials.

Build and first season

Once the design is signed off the work itself is straightforward. You get a dated programme and a site kept tidy while it runs.

On site

Excavate and form the swimming chamber, then set the submerged oak beam that divides the swim zone from the planting.

Install filtration and circulation. We use our own engineered filtration or a proven industry-leading system, chosen for the project.

Lay decking and edges, plant the regeneration zone, then fill, commission and hand over.

A typical build runs around 8 to 16 weeks depending on size, ground conditions and access, with 2 to 4 weeks of design before it. The first step costs nothing. Book a free design consultation and we will come and look at the site, with no obligation to go further.

Timber decking running along the edge of a wildlife pond with native planting