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As a garden designer i always ask the client at the very first meeting if they are looking to add a water feature to their garden. I have a questionnaire i run through with them both as it helps me get ideas on their garden wish list.
Many clients see water features as labour intensive or accidents waiting to happen if they have children or other children playing in the garden, but i think with a little bit of careful planning they can actually bring a garden alive. We are presently designing two different gardens for customers at present in Oxfordshire with water features. A raised pond in a raised bed and a ground pond with waterfall to lower pond on a steeply sloping garden.
The other issue many clients see is the maintenance of them, they look at them as places with deep murky smelly water. I then go onto to advise of the filtration systems available and UV clarifiers and underwater lighting. When one can demonstrate the benefits of having one in a garden then it makes the designers job even easier as we can be really creative in fitting them in.
Our landscape team will then build the pond or water feature if its a large one, but sometimes the client has already purchased it if its self contained and just ask us to install it.
I very rarely try and include a water feature in an initial design unless the client specifically asks for one. Generally in my experience if a client is looking to include a water feature within the design they already have a good idea of what they are looking for and will ask for it to be included