We couldn't have completed this project without involving a whole lot of other people and companies. We were particularly pleased with those listed here..
Our builder Mark Brill and John, his Dad, were fantastic. Mark was flexible, listened to my ideas, told me when he thought my plans were unworkable or would be unduly expensive and he had lots of innovative implementation ideas. His attention to detail is great, and there was no aspect of the project that seemed even to worry him.
If you'd like to contact Mark, you can reach him on brillo@hotmail.com, or call his mobile 07970 820640.
Well, not quite fabrication, I suppose. I took my design for the gazebo oak frame to Interesting Timbers Interesting Timbers near Bath, who made me a 'kit of parts' for the Gazebo. They raised some design queries at the start and advised about assembly. Their workmanship was brilliant and the frame assembled without a hitch. They would have assembled it on site if we'd needed them to.
The construction is completely traditional and everything is held together with oak pegs. These are an interference fit in the construction and the whole structure is rock solid. I don't think it'll be going anywhere for a long, long time!
In terms of cost, the turf was one of the less expensive items (though we laid it ourselves, which is probably where most turfing cost is usually incurred) but we're so pleased with it that it deserves a special mention. It's fabulous quality and was at a very reasonable price. Ashland Turf are in Bishopsland, near Bristol and said that they would cut the turf on the day that it was delivered. It was clear that they did do this. They also deserve a special mention for being so very good-natured as they offloaded the load in a torrential downpour. It's really lovely thick grass and it has has grown nicely though this mild winter.
I did a lot of research on the internet, and I bought one book.
This is the book that I bought: "Mini Encyclopedia of Keeping Koi", by Holmes, Pitham and Fletcher. Actually, if you can't be bothered to research, I think that it could well be all you actually need . There's plenty of detail and it's nicely written and laid out.
On the internet, there is a wealth of information and I can't credit individual sites (I think I looked at most of them!), But equipment suppliers, pond building companies, private sites like this one, forums and so on all contain useful information. A lot of it is really useful, but I'd suggest some caveats:
I researched a lot on the web, and naturally sought the lowest prices for the various components. I do like to source locally and, where the price differential is not too great, I did. If you're buying a complete set of things (like filter, pump, piping etc. etc.) from one supplier then they're likely to give a discount, if you ask. But almost certainly your choices will be more limited as one supplier is very unlikely to stock every make. I ended up buying my pond equipment from several suppliers and don't regret this because I feel that I got the best that I could afford and wasn't limited by what any one supplier had in stock. Incidentally, local sourcing for turf and hedging also yielded the best prices..
I used Google's Sketchup to do the design work. It's free. Sketchup is a great tool and Google also provides a set of video tutorials to help you learn it. Very highly recommended.
I wrote this web site using free software as well. So I offer my grateful thanks to the publishers. All of these packages are thoroughly recommended....
Google Chrome is also really useful, as it has a great set of developer tools with which you can examine the bare bones of other web sites and see how they do things.
.... and lastly, I learned how to write the web site using the following free learning resources! Thanks, guys!