New Project - Pond into a sandpit

sancho

Ok, after the (relative) success of my Washing 'room' project i now have a new one.

The house we have just bought has a pond in the back garden, it's about 6ftx4ft. Don't think it has any fish in it, just a few bits of lily and shrubs. My plan was to drain it, fill it with some hardcore (it's about 4ft deep) and then put some slabs over it, but the wife has other plans, she wants a sandpit (for our daughter rather than herself!)

Not entirely sure how i would go about doing this, what with it needing lid (watertight?) etc.

Also not sure how to drain it, would something as simple as whacking a fork through the lining and letting it drain away be ok?

Thanks again in advance!!

wallbash

If you stick a hole in the bottom , you will lose the water, but you will have a bit of a soggy mess. Suggest you get rid of some of the water by some other means .

Take it you have a small skip load of rubble to dispose of?


Have got kids , but never made a sand pit , to many problems of keeping the sand clean and dry.
I would have thought your daughter would get more pleasure from a pond fish/frogs etc I know of the danger of kids and water but there are solutions.
. If you don't like ponds I would just fill and slab over. Then buy a plastic sand pit with lid and keep for a couple of summers.

sancho

That's exactly what i said, but the wife is very insistent that she wants a sandpit, unless you can come up with some arguments!!

There is also a very ugly raised bed, built out of breeze blocks(!) which is what i was planning on using to fill it.

I'm not a huge fan of ponds anyway, i'd be quite happy with slabs and a tortoise sandpit!!

ormus

unless you can make some sort of lid, dont do it.
it will look a real mess in no time at all. and dont even think about the local cats!

wallbash

So you want help , in an argument with your wife :eek:


Your defence , for health and safety, sand must be kept clean and dry .
Sand pit must have a lid.

Cost , could I build a sandpit with a lid for less than the cost of a plastic
tortoise. I dont think I could .

Sand pits have a very limited appeal , only used on sunny day while the kids are really small.

Recommend.......... tortoise sandpit!!

sancho

Thanks for replies guys, have persuaded her not to do it. So have a new plan, a raised bed.

Thought i would put 4 big fence posts(?) in each corner, cemented in some how, then screw lengths of wood into the posts to build it up, probably about a metre high, maybe less.

Does that sound like it will work?

Picture of the pond



Picture of the current raised bed which i want rid of, will use to fill the pond



Thanks in advance

wallbash

So you are wrecking one raised bed to create another??

or

You are moving a raised bed ?

sancho

Both!!

Wrecking/moving one horrible raised bed. Building a nice one then putting grass where the ugly one is now