Here you can read about our regular pond visits etc and how we spend our 'Happy Sundays'
Visit to South West Koi Club, Sunday August 8th 2010
Its a Sunday and we are off again, this time to see the members of the South West Koi Club, which is based in Somerset; and covers a very large area, so it was quite a long day!
Our first stop was at John and Jean’s pond which is just outside their actual garden fence in a field, the pond had mostly goldfish but there was one koi who obliged us by coming up for food. We had a wonderful breakfast here, full English but in butties, most enjoyable. They also had a very nice vegetable garden, large greenhouse and a lovely patio area by the kitchen.
Our next stop was at Clive and Kathleen’s farm. Here we saw a pond which ran into a gravel bed stream which goes to wildlife pond and then is pumped back to the main pond, which is home to several koi. The garden here was enormous with orchards and all sorts of nooks and crannies, like the fern and acer grotto in the photograph. We spent a while here talking and partaking of biscuits and hot and cold drinks.
Lunch at Chris and Brenda’s pond was next. The pond is built outside their kitchen on a patio area with terracing above it. There is a mixture of koi in the pond between five and fifteen years old. The light lunch we were promised was something else; we had trout, salads and all manner of other dishes plus the obligatory cream cakes and various drinks. We just lazed around eating and talking for about an hour and then it was time to move on.
Next on the trip was Graham and Jean’s pond, which has been terraced into a very steep site, it was built in 2005 it is gravity fed with the water returning via planted upper pond and a weir. Yet more cakes and tea, coffee and cold drinks. The garden is mainly terraced with some stunning trees at the bottom of a very steep slope.
Robin and Charo’s pond was the next port of call; their pond is covered by a pergola and 
is at ground level. There were several koi both large and small in the pond, and a couple of butterfly koi which are not to everyone’s taste
but I quite like. The garden here was a riot of colour with something
growing in every spare inch, lots of little secluded corners with seating and an amazing number of clematis.
By now it was late afternoon and we were summoned to Peter and Mary’s garden (they do not have a pond). This was not a garden but more like a
park with empty poly tunnels at the bottom end, plantings of trees and shrubs, raised vegetable beds, apple and plum trees plus much more, room for a smallholding in fact, Shirley and I decided how many pigs,geese,ducks and chickens etc. we would keep here.
A large gazebo plus outdoor seating was provided for our final meal of the day, and what a meal! Home cooked ham, chicken, quiches, assorted salads, hot bread etc. and of course the sweet course, pavlovas, chocolate fudge cakes, banoffees, trifles and more. Sadly all good things come to an end and we said our farewells and left Somerset until next year (maybe).
Visit to Dorset Koi Keepers, Sunday July 4th 2010
This is a very confusing title as most of the ponds we saw were in Hampshire or Wiltshire. We left Newton Abbot at 7am and picked some more members up at Exeter and Honiton and then it was on the road to our first pond in Wiltshire. We arrived around about 10am and were greeted with smiling faces and a lovely breakfast of bacon and sausage butties, loads of coffee and fruit juice and extra butties if needed.
This pond belongs to Mike and Katrinka and holds 5,000 gallons and is completely under cover, when it was originally built it was outdoors but has been covered about five years. They have been hobbyists for around fifteen years and half the koi in their pond are home bred from a mass spawning some years ago, Mike is in the process of building his own spawning pond in the orchard. They also have the most amazing garden which completely surrounds the house and Mike’s standard fuchsias are something else, he gave some of us an impromptu talk on how to get them to grow this big and how to care for them, he also has a lovely collection of bonsai.
Our next pond was at the home of Liz and John. We were greeted by two little terriers (very friendly). The pond holds 4,300 gallons and is fully covered by a pergola and shade netting; they also have a quarantine/treatment tank which is at the moment home to some growing on koi. Some really nice fish were seen, and they have wonderful collection of Japanese acers in their lovely garden. We had refreshments and lots of chat, and then it was time to move on.............
To our next stop, our lunch break at the home of Trevor and Rowena. They have a huge pond of 14,000 gallons and it is home to several very large koi which have won them many prizes. There is also a 2750 gallon swimming pool which serves as a second pond and two quarantine tanks. Part of the large pond is inside the conservatory so the koi can be viewed from the comfort of a sofa.
From here it was on to Peter and Chris who have been keeping koi for eleven years but designed and built their pond three years ago. It is an irregular shape with a waterfall and rockery at one end. The pond and filter hold 2,300 gallons.
The last pond of the day was huge and belonged to Mark and Vanessa who have been keeping koi since 1985. Their pond holds 33,000 gallons and is home to 175 koi and about 20 grass carp.
We had a wonderful buffet at Dorset Koi Keepers headquarters, there was loads of food and drink and the desserts were very naughty but we all tried them, and it was on the road home again. We are now looking forward to their visit to us in September 2010.
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