Stones in the water – a swimming pond in the Chiemgau

A swimming pond where you can't tell where the garden ends and the landscape begins: around 110 m² of swimming area, framed by large boulders, with stepping stones that seem to lie in the water by chance, and a stream that runs over a rock edge into the pond. Behind it, the mountains of the Chiemgau.

We built here from August 2019 to May 2021 – not just the pond, but the whole redesign: paths, terraces, bank zones, planting. It began with a paid design phase, and for a project of this size that is the only sensible approach: if you plan first and then build, you know exactly where every stone belongs when the first spade goes in.

What you see are the stones – block-sized boulders, set with a crane, with gravel, reeds and underwater plants between them that take care of the cleaning. What you don't see is the regeneration zone: it keeps the water so clear that you can see the stone slabs on the bottom. And in spring 2021 came the planting that softens the transition to the meadow.

After completion we came back twice – once for a liner connection, once to replant underwater plants. That is part of the job: a swimming pond is a living system, and what is meant to grow back sometimes needs replanting. More on the construction method: Swimming Pond · Pond maintenance.

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