Water is the lifeblood of our gardens

A precious commodity that maintains healthy plants and attracts wildlife, the role of water, how we use it and conserve it, has never been more important. Over half of the 3,300 gardens that open for the National Garden Scheme have water features ranging from solar powered fountains in natural swimming ponds and stately rills to barrel ponds and water gardens in Belfast sinks, the variety in our gardens is inspiring. We take a look at some of the wonderful water features in gardens opening for us in 2025. 

Our lead image shows just what you can achieve in a small suburban back garden. The owners at 84 Higham Street in Walthamstow, London have created a low-maintenance garden that takes visitors on a journey through a wildlife friendly oasis into a small woodland hideaway. The large rainwater pond provides a great contrast to drought tolerant perennial flowers, ornamental grasses, trees and shrubs, all planted with a naturalistic style under a thick layer of gravel mulch.  That this oasis exists behind a suburban semi is hugely inspirational.

With sustainability in mind the owners of Woodpeckers in Surrey have a hidden water feature, a 7,500 litre rainwater harvesting tank installed under the garden. Along with green roofs the owner has created a fabulous garden with a ‘green approach’. You can read the water tank story here.

Wildlife friendly

Small, naturalistic ponds can also make a huge difference to any garden and are relatively simple to create. Three that work beautifully in their setting are at Clover Cottage in Cambridgeshire, the Old Church House in Bedfordshire and the Cowper & Newton Museum Gardens in Buckinghamshire.

Clover Cottage is a small garden packed with inspiring ideas on the use of space, squeezing in a pond with pebble beach attracts a wide variety of insects and wildlife into this charming cottage plot. Open in February, March and June the garden gives a taster of life through the seasons from gorgeous spring flowers to billowing roses.

You’ll find these precious wildlife ponds in hundreds of gardens opening for the National Garden Scheme this year. To find out more about the creation of wildlife ponds from expert, book a By Arrangement visit to Sheepcote Green House in Essex or read owner Jilly McNaughton’s top tips for creating a wildlife friendly pond here

Small but important

Smaller still are the water features that add musical sounds and movement or utilise quirky or upcycled items in your garden. While many are decorative or incorporated into the garden design, their ability to attract wildlife shouldn’t be ignored – every garden bird enjoys a drink and a wash!  Foxglove Cottage in Sussex is a quarter acre plantaholic’s garden full of containers, vintage finds and quirky elements. A water feature in a pebble circle, and two additional small ponds encourage wildlife. Long Cottage is a charmingly pretty Cotswold cottage that opens as part of the Arlington and Bibury Gardens group. Transformed since 2020 from a blank lawn and hardscape into an immersive, intimate space. Lush borders, ornamental trees, and water features create distinct cottage “rooms” that extend naturally from the home. By maximizing every corner, nook, and wall, the garden showcases how even smaller spaces can thrive with vibrant, varied design. The Old Rectory in Wisbech Cambridgeshire is a classical garden with a few less formal elements including upcycled sinks illustrating that gardens can be all things to wildlife!

One lovely examples can be found at 1 Tucker Close in Somerset where owners Bev and Tim say: “We have a small walled town garden, designed and planted by us, on a fairly new estate. An unexpected design, so visitors tell us, with its wide beds, exuberant planting and small cauldron pond. Everything is planted with wildlife in mind. Despite it being only three years old, it looks mature and abundant, filled with herbaceous borders, fruit trees, decking, pond and slate rather than grass.” 

Monet moments

Mention water in a garden and Monet’s garden at Giverny may well come to mind. The waterlilies, the willow and the wonderful bridge have inspired many gardeners to try and replicate the peace and tranquility of this most beautiful of gardens and the owners at Lower Brookshill in Shropshire are no exception. Their Monet lily pond (pictured below) was created within a derelict and overgrown 10 acre site in 2010, where cultivated areas now rub shoulders with the natural landscape using fine borrowed views over and down a valley. A visit to this tranquil spot is a must.

Other Monet moments can be found at: Deepwood Stud Farm in Berkshire and Preachers Passing in Cambridgeshire.

Natural pools

There is also a love of the more naturalistic and many of our gardens now feature wild swimming ponds that blend beautifully into the landscape and provide precious habitat for wildlife as well as  wonderful exercise for their owners.  Designer Tom Stuart-Smith has a stunning wild swimming pond at The Barn at Serge Hill which opens each summer and the garden at Y Felin Rhyd Hir in Gwynedd – a restored water-powered corn mill – has the most beautiful lakes and ponds that add drama and tranquility in equal measure.  Hurst House in Kent has a natural swimming pond as does The Old Rectory, Pulborough.

Channeling natural streams through gardens has been a device that has been used by gardeners for thousands of years and it remains as effective as ever in creating tranquility and moments of reflection in gardens.

Chapelside in Cumbria has a gorgeous stream feeding into a pond to create a naturalistic, relaxed setting creating a peaceful place, respectful of its location, full of colour, form and texture, yet allowing self-seeding and the quirkiness of the unexpected. You will find both familiar and less usual plants: ferns, hostas, hellebores, alpines, anemones and meconopsis all feature. Orchids have arrived, surprising but welcome.

Llanover in Gwent also uses a stream that flows from the Black Mountains to the River Usk to create a series of ponds, cascades and rills to form the backbone of this 15 acre garden.

With so many forms of water – not forgetting the lakes,  fountains, cascades and Koi ponds – to see in National Garden Scheme gardens you’re sure to find some great ideas for your garden, large or small.  And, if you’re looking for practical tips on creating ponds, bogs and wetlands for wildlife visit our WWT partnership page here