Swimming Ponds
Natural Swimming Ponds – Designed and Built for Long-Term Performance
A fully managed design-and-build service for clients who want clarity, safety, and a swimming pond that will still perform decades from now
A Design-Led Approach to Natural Swimming Ponds
We don’t sell off-the-shelf ponds. Every project begins with understanding your space, your priorities, and whether a swimming pond is genuinely the right solution for you.
✅ Designed for long-term water quality, not short-term clarity
✅ Engineered with safety and family use in mind
✅ Fully bespoke to your garden and lifestyle
✅ Supported by a proven design-and-build process
Swimming pond projects represent a significant, bespoke investment.
Costs vary widely depending on scale, design complexity, ground conditions, and integration with the surrounding landscape.
The Initial Call and Pond Project Planning Video Call is designed to establish whether your ambition and budget are aligned before moving into design.
Start Your Swimming Pond Enquiry
A no-obligation conversation with our team to explore suitability, scope, and next steps.
This call helps us understand your space and whether a swimming pond is the right solution before any site visit or design work takes place.
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For clients who are ready to discuss feasibility, scope, and next steps without delay.
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Designed for How You Actually Live
A natural swimming pond isn’t just a different type of pool. It’s a considered, long-term addition to your home and garden, designed to work in harmony with how you use your space throughout the year.
When designed properly, it offers a level of enjoyment, simplicity and integration that traditional pools struggle to match.
Long-Term Water Quality, Not Short-Term Fixes
Our ponds are designed for consistency and performance over decades, not seasonal clarity achieved through constant intervention.
Every project is engineered around stable water quality, appropriate circulation, and systems that support long-term balance rather than ongoing correction.
Family-Safe by Design
Safety isn’t an add-on. It’s built into the layout, depth transitions, access points and overall design from the very beginning.
This allows families to enjoy the water with confidence, while maintaining a clean, natural aesthetic
A Garden Feature in Every Season
Unlike a traditional pool that’s covered for half the year, a swimming pond is designed to enhance your garden all year round.
Whether viewed from the house, enjoyed as part of the landscape, or used for swimming, it remains an active, attractive feature in every season.
Straightforward Ownership
A well-designed swimming pond should feel easy to live with.
Our approach focuses on clarity, simplicity and systems that are understood from the outset, avoiding the sense of constant maintenance or complexity often associated with water features.
A Considered Investment
Clients choose this approach not only for how it looks and feels today, but for the value it adds over time.
When properly designed and integrated, a swimming pond becomes part of the home, not a short-term installation.
Explore whether a natural swimming pond is right for your space and ambitions through a Pond Project Planning Call.
A Clear Design Led Process
Creating a successful natural swimming pond isn’t about choosing a size and starting to dig.
It requires careful planning, suitability checks, and a considered design phase before any build decisions are made.
Our process is structured to provide clarity at each stage, ensuring the project is right for you before moving forward.
1. Initial Enquiry & Project Planning Call
Every project begins with an enquiry, either by completing our enquiry form or by contacting us directly.
From there, we move into a Pond Project Planning Video Call. For some clients, this is booked directly. For others, it is scheduled following a short initial conversation to confirm we are the right fit for you.
This planning call allows us to understand your space, ambitions, and whether a natural swimming pond is genuinely the right solution before progressing further.
2. Site Visit & Design Phase
If the project is a good fit, the next step is a site visit followed by a dedicated design phase.
This is where safety, performance, integration, and long term functionality are carefully considered and developed into a clear design proposal.
3. Build Scheduling and Delivery
Once the design is agreed, the project moves into build scheduling and delivery.
Our team manages the process from groundworks through to completion, ensuring the pond performs as intended from day one and beyond.
Why This Matters
This approach avoids assumptions, rushed decisions, and costly changes later on
It also ensures that both sides are aligned before committing to a significant build.
What Makes Us Unique, and the Standout No.1 Swimming Pond Company
Safety, Engineered from the Start
Safety is not something we add at the end of a project.
It is considered from the very first design decisions and integrated into every stage that follows.
A properly designed natural swimming pond should feel calm, controlled, and intuitive to use, without the need for constant supervision or intervention.
Designed for Real-World Use
Safety is addressed through layout, proportions, depth transitions, access points, and circulation design.
These elements work together to create an environment that is predictable, legible, and appropriate for family use.
Nothing is left to assumption.
Water Quality by Design, Not Guesswork
Long-term water quality is achieved through a multi-layered system that manages movement, filtration, and balance as a whole.
Each element exists for a specific reason and is designed to support stable, safe swimming conditions over time.
A System Reviewed, Not Rushed
Our approach has been developed, tested, and refined over many years.
It has also been reviewed with independent scientific expertise to ensure that every component serves a clear purpose and contributes to the overall performance of the pond.
This is not a collection of features. It is a complete system.
Why This Matters
When safety is embedded in the design from the outset, it removes the need for constant correction later on.
It also ensures confidence for those using the pond, and clarity for those responsible for maintaining it.
Explore whether a natural swimming pond is right for your space through a Pond Project Planning Call.
What Actually Makes Our Swimming Ponds Different
Most swimming ponds are built to look natural and hope water quality follows.
Ours are engineered to deliver predictable, safe water quality from day one, and still look completely natural.
How Swimming Ponds are built the “Traditional way”
95% of swimming ponds are still built the “traditional way”, designed with large planted gravel zones. These are known as regeneration zones, and their purpose is to help balance water quality over time.
Water is circulated through these planted areas, relying on natural biological activity to manage water conditions. Over time, the system is expected to find its own balance.
This approach can create beautiful ponds, but it also comes with limitations that often only become apparent after installation..
Common challenges with traditional systems
- Water clarity can vary seasonally
- Long stabilisation periods in new ponds
- Blanket weed and algae issues
- Heavy reliance on plants for water safety which not proven
- Ongoing intervention to maintain balance
- Silt build up over time in the gravel beds
What this can mean for owners
- More hands-on and regular maintenance
- Unpredictable water quality
- A system that feels natural but not always controlled
- Water safety concerns – no solution to remove bad micro-organisms such as Weils disease, Swimmers itch, Ecoli etc
- After several years a complete renovation of the pond and gravel beds to remove silt.
- This does not make the approach wrong. It simply makes it less predictable.
What this can mean for owners
- More hands-on and regular maintenance
- Unpredictable water quality
- A system that feels natural but not always controlled
- Water safety concerns – no solution to remove bad micro-organisms such as Weils disease, Swimmers itch, Ecoli etc
- After several years a complete renovation of the pond and gravel beds to remove silt.
This does not make the approach wrong. It simply makes it less predictable.
The Ponds by Michael Wheat Approach
Our Approach: Our ponds are designed as complete, engineered water quality systems where every component has a defined role.
Most of the filtration is housed in a compact external unit. This keeps the swimming area completely natural while making the system easier to access, manage, and maintain.
With a background in water filtration and over 300 completed Swimming pond projects across the UK, our approach prioritises SAFETY, clarity, and long-term performance.
Our approach combines:
- Mechanical filtration to actively remove debris
- Biological filtration designed to support stable water health
- Controlled water circulation and aeration to prevent stagnation
- UV clarification where appropriate to support water hygiene
- Plants used for landscape and ecology, not relied upon as the primary safety system
Every element is specified during the design phase so the system works predictably from day one.
What This Means for You
- Clear, SAFE water you can confidently swim in
- A system designed for stability rather than constant adjustment
- Lower day-to-day maintenance compared to plant-led ponds
- A pond that integrates into your home and lifestyle, not one that demands attention
- A completely natural swimming pond or pool which is an enclosed ecosystem with clear, safe water
- A long-term investment designed to perform consistently for years to come.
A Note about Maintenance
Our swimming ponds are designed to be low maintenance, but not maintenance-free.
Because water quality is managed through a defined system rather than natural balance alone, day-to-day involvement is minimal compared to traditional plant-led ponds. Seasonal checks and basic care are still required to ensure ongoing performance.
Because the filtration system is housed in an accessible external unit, any servicing is faster, simpler, and far less disruptive than systems built into planted gravel beds.
We do offer an optional annual maintenance service, although only a small proportion of our clients choose or require this. The system is designed so owners can enjoy consistently clear, safe water without constant attention.
Our Latest Swimming Pond Installations
Swimming Ponds Designed and Built Using This Approach
Frequently Asked Questions
1.How do we know if this type of swimming pond is right for us
The initial planning conversation is designed specifically to explore suitability. It allows us to understand your space, how you intend to use it, and whether this approach is genuinely the right solution for you.
There is no obligation. The aim is clarity, not pressure.
2. When do we understand costs and technical complexity
Every swimming pond we design is bespoke, so costs and technical decisions are not guessed upfront.
The Pond Project Planning Call and subsequent design phase are used to establish whether the scope, ambition, and investment level are aligned before any build decisions are made. This ensures clarity for both sides before moving forward.
3. Is this approach suitable for families and regular swimming
Yes. Safety is considered from the very first design decisions, including layout, depth transitions, access points, and circulation.
By designing water quality and usability together, the pond is intended to feel calm, controlled, and appropriate for regular family use rather than occasional or seasonal swimming.
4.Does this mean fewer plants and less maintenance
Plants still play an important role visually and ecologically. The difference is that they are not relied upon to do the majority of the filtration work.
Because water quality is managed through the system design, ongoing maintenance is generally more predictable and less reactive than traditional plant led ponds. Maintenance expectations are discussed and defined during the design phase so there are no surprises later.
5.How is your approach different from traditional swimming ponds?
Most swimming ponds rely heavily on large regeneration zones and plants to maintain water quality. While this can work, it can also lead to seasonal variation, longer stabilisation periods, and higher ongoing intervention.
Our ponds are designed around an engineered water quality system. We use circulation design, mechanical and biological filtration, and proven components to actively manage water quality. Plants are used for landscape and ecology rather than being relied upon as the primary safety system. This approach allows us to design for predictable, safe swimming conditions over the long term.
Understanding Investment & Ongoing Ownership
Every natural swimming pond we create is bespoke.
Costs vary significantly depending on the scale of the pond, the complexity of the design, ground conditions, access, and how the pond is integrated into the wider garden and home.
There is no standard model or fixed price.
A Bespoke Project, Not a Product
Unlike a manufactured pool, a swimming pond is designed specifically for its setting.
This means decisions around layout, structure, safety, filtration approach, finishes, and surrounding landscaping all influence the overall investment.
These decisions are explored and refined during the design phase, not guessed at upfront.
Why Design Comes First
The purpose of the Pond Project Planning Call and subsequent design phase is to establish whether the scope, ambition, and investment level are aligned before moving forward.
This avoids assumptions, prevents costly changes later, and ensures clarity for everyone involved before any build commitment is made.
Running Costs & Day-to-Day Use
A properly designed swimming pond should feel straightforward to own.
Ongoing costs depend on usage, seasonal preferences, and how the pond is operated, but the system is designed for stability rather than constant intervention.
Running costs and maintenance expectations are discussed in detail once the design and specification are understood.
A Long-Term View
Clients typically choose a swimming pond for its longevity and integration into their home rather than short-term convenience.
When designed and built correctly, it becomes part of the property and lifestyle, not a feature that requires replacement or major rework after a few years.
A no-obligation conversation to explore suitability, scope, and next steps.
Planning & Practical Considerations
Will I need planning permission?
Where planning is required, we provide the necessary drawings and information to support the process as part of the design stage.
What Our Clients Say
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A considered first step towards your project
For clients who are ready to discuss feasibility, scope, and next steps without delay.
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