Everything has to start somewhere. Here we laid out the shape of the pond with some old rope.

Next we had the hole dug - isn't outsourcing a wonderful thing! As you can see, a heavy rainfall the next day raised the local water table so much that the pond filled up. Eventually the water reached only 6 inches from the top!

At last the ground dried enough to let us line the pond, first with a blanket-like underlay, and then with 1mm thick butyl rubber. The stones literally weighed a ton and I had to transport them all on my own. No wonder my back aches today! Still, it is taking shape nicely.

Six weeks on and the pond is starting to look more established. A few plants and some work on the surroundings have transformed it! We have six small goldfish in there already (more to come soon) and a couple of frogs have discovered it already. The surface is alive with small insects calle pond skaters (or they might be water boatmen). It's amazing how fast wildlife finds water. There is still some work to do but there's no rush.

The famous vegetable plot in full production mode!

Same shot from a different angle.