Garden water features, of course, first started to capture the public imagination when they were incorporated into the garden designs produced by celebrity gardener, Alan Titchmarsh, in the BBC television series “Ground Force”. There is no denying that a water feature can add movement, a touch of drama, and soothing background noise to any garden but you do need to include it properly in your initial garden design, rather than as an afterthought.

If you wish to include a pond for example, remember that it should receive 5 hours or more of sunlight a day so that aquatic plants – and fish if you want them – can flourish. Overhanging shrubs or trees can choke a pond with fallen leaves but, in any case, it should be cleaned out at least once a year; spring is the best time of year for cleaning as plants have the opportunity to re-establish themselves in time for the summer months.

If you’d prefer a running water feature such as a fountain, stream, or waterfall, remember that you may need a tank to act as a reservoir and probably a pump to push water uphill at some point. Electricity for such a pump can be provided by the domestic mains via a suitable extension cable and transformer or, of course, via solar panels, which require no wiring per se. If you have a sunny garden patio, for example, you might like to consider a tiered cascade fountain which allows water to trickle gently from one tier to the next under the power of the Sun.

You are, of course, not limited to traditional water feature designs and nowadays there are any number of pebble pools, spheres and water walls – freestanding or incorporated in the wall of the garden itself – all of which are based on the principle of pumping water from a reservoir at the base of the feature to its highest point letting it fall under gravity and so on.

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