Placing pond liner underlay protects your liner from sharp objects such as stones, roots and anything else that could tear it. Although you can use old carpet or newspaper instead, they are never quite as good as they will eventually rot down and stop protecting your liner.

Other people place a layer of soft sand under the liner. Although this will not rot down, it is quite difficult to keep in place during the installation of the liner.

We therefore recommend using a purpose made pond liner, which will last and protect your liner for years to come.

These come in differing qualities, each designed to suit different liners. Many companies will only guarantee their liners when you use one of their recommended underlays.

See the main site pond liner page for more info.

Pond design has to be the most important aspect of the pond building process. Get this wrong and you have not only wasted a lot of time and maybe money, but you may be left with a pond which is not suitable for keeping fish in at all.

Get it right however, and you should end up with a thing of beauty which will give you years of pleasure and provide the perfect home for your garden pond fish.

Below are just a few of the things you need to consider when designing your pond

• Location
• Safety
• Inhabitants (fish, wildlife, koi)
• Size, depth and shape
• Type (formal, raised etc.)
• Features such as waterfalls, fountains, lighting etc.)
• Materials (concrete, fibre-glass, liner)

See the main site page here for an in depth article on pond design.

Welcome to the pond blog at Bradlodge. We hope this blog will help you to create and maintain your perfect garden pond or water garden. We will be posting help and advice on designing, building and maintaining your pond, the equipment you may want to choose to run your pond and of course your fish and plants.