This is approximately one day in. As there was no access for a mechanical digger the excavation needed to be done by hand. The spoil was barrowed to the front of the house where a 'grab lorry' collected it in 14 ton lots.
With a relatively high water table, the excavation filled with water overnight despite no rain. This was to prove problematical throughout the build and at a later point a sump would be dug to house an float-switched pump in an attempt to keep the excavation dry.
End of day 2 and the hole is nearly done apart from adding some more depth to the excavation. Up to this point two grab lorries have removed the best part of 30 tons of soil with the remainder (topsoil) being stored at the back of the garden for later use in filling the beds
The finished excavation. You can see that water and gas pipes have been uncovered during the dig. Fortunately they sit outside the pond wall position and will sit just outside the block wall when built. A careful bit of planning or pure luck?
The pond viewed from the front. This is the angle from which the pond will be most viewed. Quite a bit of time was taken at this point deciding the final shape of the pond. The more consideration, the more I leaned toward a circular shape. Much reading regarding flow patterns and efficiency moved me to a design that was very sweeping and as circular as having a pleasing shape would allow.
