Bitten by the gardening bug.

After a visit to the National Library, we came home with a photocopy of an Ordnance Survey map of our village in 1900. There were three wells clearly marked, and one of them was the flooded area in the field behind our house. No wonder the farmer's attempts over the years to drain this area have been futile, and after the wettest November on record this current year, the well has re-appeared.

All the guide books on how to create a garden pond suggested that the best option is to line the pond with butyl, as it is reckoned to last up to 50 years. After absorbing the reading material from several books, and discussing together all the stages involved in creating a garden wildlife pond, my husband felt I'd given him enough encouragement to tackle this project on his own, while I would concentrate my efforts on designing and building the shape of the rest of the garden. This piece of news, coming from someone who, for the previous 20 years, had only ever thought of gardens as places to sit and read or sunbathe, was music to my ears. Little did he realise that he was about to create the jewel in the crown of our garden.