As seen on BBC Gardeners World
Swimming Pond

Swimming Ponds, Designed and Built by Ellicar

About

A watery retreat for wildlife lovers

Swimming Pond
Naturalistic
Swimming Pond
Concrete-free
Butterfly
Wildlife
Lower construction costs and a smaller ecological footprint than other pools.
Long swimming season with natural thermal gain, and temperatures reaching 26°C in summer.
Magnet for wildlife using regeneration zones with native aquatics and marginal flowering plants.
Blends seamlessly with your garden.
Low running costs and minimal maintenance, with a professional service in winter.
Beautiful all year, changing with the seasons like a garden.
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Overview

What is a Swimming Pond?

Swimming Pond

Swimming ponds are concrete-free. They're constructed by excavating and profiling earth-shaped walls to form a swim zone surrounded by regeneration zones where beautiful aquatic water plants help balance the water.

The pool is lined using either a 1.00mm EPDM or 1.2mm TPO flexible liner and they have the same biological filtration system as a natural swimming pool so you can enjoy swimming in crystal clear, chemical-free water.

With plenty of space for swimming, they're a naturalistic retreat for wildlife lovers and anyone wanting to wild swim in their own garden. With less construction involved, swimming ponds are also a lower-cost natural pool option.

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Filtration

How natural pool filtration works: crystal clear and chemical free

Swimming Pond Zones
1

Filtration Zone

Bio-Top biological system continuously maintains crystal-clear, healthy water without chemicals.
2

Regeneration Zone

A lush planted area that enhances biodiversity and naturally helps filter and purify the water.
3

Swimming Zone

Earth-shaped walls with a flexible liner, separated from the regeneration areas by low submerged walls.
Customisation

Make it your own with cabins, saunas, decking, water features, and more...

Swimming Pond Water Feature

Water Features

With carefully considered pool hydraulics, you can enjoy a still, reflective pool for peace and tranquillity. We can create mesmerising ripples spreading across the water's surface or make it livelier with water bubbling up through boulders, or splashing into the pool via a millstone or rill.
Natural Pool Relaxation

Outdoor Living

Our pool design and landscaping teams incorporate sun decks, outdoor kitchens, outdoor living spaces and saunas, all surrounded by beautiful planting, integrating your natural pool into your garden.
Ellicar Play Beaches

Play Beaches

A shallow play beach creates a gentle, inviting way to enter the water - perfect for wading in slowly and enjoying the pool at a more relaxed pace. The shallower water also warms more quickly, helping with passive thermal gain. It creates a fun, family-friendly space for children to play and is a magnet for wildlife.
Swimming Pond Internal Coping

Internal Wall Coping

Internal wall coping finishes the top of the submerged walls that separate the swim zone from the planted regeneration areas. For a naturalistic pool, wooden larch coping blends into the surrounding planting and water. For a more contemporary design, stone coping creates a crisp, architectural finish.
Swimming Pond Ladder

Stairs and Ladders

How you enter the water shapes the whole swimming experience. A simple larch ladder is sleek, understated and perfect where space is at a premium. Gently sloping steps create a slower, more relaxed way to ease into the pool, while stainless steel offers a crisp, contemporary finish.
Natural Pool Jetty

Jetties and Pontoons

Jetties can become a real focal point within the pool adding another access point, creating a place to pause, and offering the perfect spot to sit with your feet in the water on a warm summer’s day. For something a little more playful, a bespoke pontoon can introduce a truly unique feature and bring an extra sense of fun to the water.
Stepping Stones Ellicar

Boulders and Stepping Stones

Boulders and stepping stones can add real character to a natural pool, whether you prefer a crisp, contemporary look with honed stone or something more rustic like rugged boulders. They can create a playful way to access the water - perfect for hopping across or using as a launch pad for jumping into the pool.
Comparison

Choose the right pool type for you

Natural Swimming Pool overhead

Natural Pools

Formal, contemporary or naturalistic design to fit your lifestyle. Make it family friendly with beaches, stepping stones and more. The ultimate in outdoor living.

Reinforced concrete construction
Biological filtration
Hard or soft pool edge
Aquatic planting
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Natural Swimming Pond

Swimming Ponds

Shaped from the earth and with a smaller ecological footprint. The ideal watery retreat for wildlife lovers, wild swimmers, and anyone preferring a concrete-free pool.

Concrete free construction
Biological filtration
Soft pool edge
Aquatic planting
Living Pool

Living Pools

A conventional-looking pool but with chemical-free biological filtration and without aquatic plants. Better for you, and better for the environment.

Tailored 1.2mm TPO liner
Biological filtration
Paved or deck edge
No aquatic planting
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Testimonials

"I'm amazed by it every day, everybody who's in it and near it is breath-taken by it."

Listen to some of our client stories as they talk about the difference a Natural Swimming Pool has made to their lives.

2:58
Kilham Testimonial
Visit

Visit our award-winning natural swimming pool in Nottinghamshire

If you’re considering a natural swimming pool for your home, we’d love to invite you to Ellicar Gardens.

Meet our team, explore the gardens, see how a natural pool works in practice, and ask us anything about the process, design, maintenance and what’s involved. And, if you’d like to experience the water first-hand, you can even take a dip.

It’s a chance to see, feel and understand what living with a natural swimming pool could really be like, and to start imagining what’s possible for your own garden.

To make a visitation appointment, please get in touch.

1:25
Projects

Selection of our Swimming Pond & Natural Pool Projects

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Project Gallery

Get in touch

If you have any questions about natural swimming pools, or you would like to discuss a project, please get in touch.

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