While you may have always wanted a water feature in your garden, or always fancied keeping fish, looking after a garden pond can bring many unexpected benefits – to the health and wellness of your family and to your property. There are of course DANGERS as well, which I’ll come to later on, but first of all, we asked the experts at www.aquacadabra.com for their top 5 benefits to installing and maintaining a garden pond.

1. Adds value to your property

Having a really nice water feature in the garden can help increase the attraction of your property to would-be buyers as it creates a peaceful ambience while they are looking round. It can make it easier to sell the house and even add value on to the sale.

If your garden is a bit of a mess and gardening is not your thing, then just clearing the garden of all weeds and adding in a nice stand-alone water feature can really make a big difference as the garden is one of the big selling points for properties.

2. Ponds can become a teaching tool

If you have children ponds are a great way to teach them about life cycles and nature as they can watch frogspawn transform into tadpoles and frogs. All of the natural elements which come with owning a pond can be of great interest to children of all ages.

They can also learn practical skills by helping to maintain the pond, clear the weeds and feed the fish, so teaching them responsibility and bringing the whole family together.

A great tool if you home school your children!

3. Ponds create a calm haven

If you have a stressful life, or you are recovering from illness, the calmness which comes from sitting alongside a water feature, watching fish swim and listening to the sounds of the water, has been proven to be incredibly beneficial.

Ponds can actively reduce stress and lower feelings of anxiety for all members of the family so can have a really beneficial effect on mental health. Likewise, if you are struggling with creative block and need some inspiration, sitting by water for some time is proven to help improve creativity levels.

Sitting next to water has also been shown to help people recuperate far quicker from illness so resting by the pond, reading a book, could help you regain your strength and heal faster than without a pond.

4. Ponds support wildlife

A great benefit to having a pond in your garden is that you will be supporting local wildlife and providing a home for creatures including frogs and newts if you are lucky. You will attract all kinds of creatures into your garden by having a pond, including insects and birds which may not have visited previously.

5. Ponds bring the family together

When you are planning a pond it can become a family project which everyone can work on together, including choosing the fish, deciding on the shape and size of the pond and even digging it all together.

Choosing the plants, the décor and any water features like waterfalls to go with the pond, are all jobs which the whole family can muck in and get involved with, so it’s a really great way to bring everyone together to shape this new feature which will enhance everyone’s lives.

Having a pond in your garden brings many benefits – not all of which are immediately obvious. Firstly, ponds can bring the family together to work on the planning, digging and creation of the space itself.

Then there are the therapeutic benefits of ponds, which can help to quieten down a busy mind and provide inspiration when stuck for creativity. The relaxation effect of sitting by water has long been proven in studies and is one of the key benefits keeping a garden pond will bring.

As well as the family togetherness and the therapeutic nature of sitting near water, ponds also bring benefits to your property. They can really bring a small garden to life and can make a paved garden look much more interesting and alive.

What about the dangers?

There’s no getting away from it, water and children can spell disaster. When I was a toddler we moved to a house with a pond. I think initially my parents thought about all of the benefits and how fun it would be, but not long after we moved in I had a friend around to play. My mum had left us playing in the garden whilst she got us a drink and when she came back we were knee-deep in the pond.

“We’ve been to the beach Mummy”

I think it then hit my parents that this pond could be a nightmare and they filled it in the next day after taking all the frogs to the local stream.

It takes very little water for a child to drown and I think as a parent you do play nightmare scenarios through in your head on a regular basis. So basically, if you are considering a pond in your garden just be certain you have the necessary safety measures in place too.