"Pia" wrote in message
...
Nevertheless, there is a relatively local Koi centre (we are in
Herts), and I'm sure they'll take them off us.
Probably if it's worth them quarantining them for a while first which it
should be if they are a decent size. They'll want to avoid introducing
disease to their existing stock.

Now, what do we fill it with? The pond is a couple of feet deep, and I
don't know if we need to fill the whole lot with soil, or whether it will
be
ok to put a bit of rubble in the bottom to reduce the volume of soil
needed?
I can't think why that wouldn't be OK but remember that the soil will wash
down to fill the gaps in the rubble so expect it to settle quite a bit at
first.

Also, which kind of soil do we need. Do we just get "standard" soil from
a
nursery, or do we mix it with compost (or something else altogether)?
I'd put something cheap and poor at the bottom and then fill the last foot
or so with something better. There's no point putting expensive compost
where the plants won't use it. I'm not sure from your post how deep the pond
is though.

As the surrounding beds are heathers and conifers, I thought the nicest
snip
be "contained" within the old outline of the pond, will there be an issue
with drainage? (We will of course take up the old pond liner.)
If you put a lot of good drainage in the bottom of the hole there shouldn't
be any problem. Actually, just occured that you may need to be careful not
to make the hole too free-draining or you'll be effectively be building a
soak-away which will drain water from your adjacent beds as well.

The alternative would be to remove all the bricks as well as the liner to
make it all flush with the surrounding beds. snip
That sounds more attractive but you should probably still raise the area a
bit to keep it drier than the beds.

Lastly, is there a "right" and a "wrong" time to do this. As we won't
really
be digging in existing soil, it won't make a difference if the soil around
is rather cold or frozen, but is it best to leave it until it gets warmer?
I don't know much about alpines but I think it would be best to wait until
the ground is easier to dig before doing the destruction/construction whilst
still aiming to get it completed before whenever the plants should go in.

Hope this is some help,

Martin