I saw just this type of pond the other day, but for the life of me, I can't
remember the link. It involved a very large area around the perimeter of the
pond which held a huge amount of plant material. This was all placed on a
rather shallow surface area. The water fed into the area by means of a
lenghty waterfall that went more or less the whole way around the pond. This
perimeter area was separated fromthe main 4' deep pond section by a bulkhead
at the edge of the deep water. The guy said that it could be made from
either wood timbers, bamboo or masonry. Each material posed it's own unique
solutions and problems. From what he was saying, this is becoming quite
popular in a lot of the European gardens. You access the swimming area by
means of a pier jutting out from the shore.
I liked the idea, and was considering using it, until I realized the size
requirements to creat the proper balance of water,fish, plants and people
space. But the one he showed on his web page could be done on a scale of
about 1/4 acre of land. Hope this helps, I'm sure you'll find it if you do
a google for it.

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