For the first 9 months we were seriously wondering whether our whole concept was fatally flawed. The water in the filtration pond immediately filled with silt from the clay and this did not settle out at all. Month after month we waited for the water to show signs of clearing,…
One of our key aims with the natural swimming pool was to ensure that it fitted in with the landscape and ecology of Phillipskop. For this, it was obvious that we would need to do indigenous planting using only the native flora. But indigenous gardening, certainly in the Cape, is…
With the swimming pool constructed it was time to landscape and plant up the surrounding area. The old dam wall was still in place but much higher than we wanted it to be. It needed to be lowered to the same level as the pool wall and decking so that…
Work on the natural swimming pool began in October 2019 under the supervision of Anton Duivestein of Walker Bay Construction. An unusual element of our project was that the area had already been excavated when the old dam was dug out. Normally, when building a swimming pool, one can dig…
Ever since moving to Phillipskop in 2014, we have wanted to build a swimming pool. However, it was important for us that it fitted in with the habitat and landscape that we are conserving here. A natural swimming pool was therefore the obvious route to go but such projects cannot…
