A couple from England took two years to transform their back garden into a beautiful swimming pool that is surrounded by 1,500 plants and is chlorine and chemical free.
Jon and Caroline Edwards, from the Cotswolds, came up with the idea to build a natural swimming pool—that is 7 feet deep and measures 7 by 9 meters—after watching a video of a man building one in 2018.
“We were inspired by the natural nonchemical approach to home swimming,” Caroline, a choir director and performer. told The Epoch Times.
Determined to have their own swimming pool, Caroline and her husband went from having a conversation one night over wine to hiring a digger the next day.
She said that Jon, who has a business, usually enjoyed taking on DIY projects, but she thought that it would be one of those “projects that would never get completed.”
However, the couple thought it was the perfect time to start the project, as their four kids had all left home for university and work.
“For ages, we had this massive hole in the garden, which was so ugly to look at, but Jon had a vision and I believed in him and it all came together in the end,” Caroline said.
The natural swimming pool comes equipped with a sauna and decking; and is kept clean by the rainwater from the carefully chosen plants around it.
Explaining more about the system, Caroline told The Epoch Times that the air is drawn through an air-bubble system through the gravel, and then the plants do the rest of the process.
After two years of hard work and sheer dedication, they took a dip into the pool for the first time, and it felt like “heaven,” Caroline said.
However, building the impressive pool didn’t come without challenges. One of the difficulties that the couple encountered was the sheer enormity of building it all by themselves. It was also difficult to get the digger into their garden, as the access was not straightforward.
“The plants keep it completely clean and it continues to be beautiful all year long, as you don’t need to cover it up during winter; it attracts a lot of wildlife to our garden,” Caroline shared.
The couple spent a whooping 18,000 pounds (approx. US$22,000) building the pool and said the most expensive part of it was buying the plants; they had to make sure they had the right ones to keep the pool clean.
According to Caroline, they also do regular tests of the water to make sure it’s safe to swim in.
Reflecting back, Caroline said she appreciates having constructed this swimming pool with her husband, as the result has been better than she had imagined it to be. The couple are usually in the pool most of the time, while they also host friends and family, as everyone wants to use the pool.
