To get one of those massive pools in my garden this summer?

[ziggiestardust]

DH and I are weighing it up, because last summer we were absolutely baking and wishing we could make better use of the garden.

This summer, we've moved into a place with a bigger garden and I'm considering getting something like this The cost of filling it doesn't really bother me, it'd be great to try and get DS (3.5) in the water more often, we would be able to enjoy being home a bit more, and our friends would love it as well I bet!

However, the thing looks awful. Just awful. It really is an eyesore, and what if we have a terrible summer? Then it's wasted, and the grass will take an age to recover (although nothing that couldn't be sorted with a bit of tlc and some grass seed at the end of the summer).

What shall we do?

One year I sent Ex H out to get a paddling pool, and he returned with something like this.

It did ruin the grass, and it meant I could never turn my back on the kids in the garden for a second, whereas previously I could at least nip to the toilet quickly.

You will end up with a mudbath around it too

TBH I wouldn't bother with that size until your DC is older.
We have one, it is fab but...

it's cold
it needs chemicals and constant attention to keep the water hygienic.
it takes 10 hours to fill
it kills the grass
it's a PITA to empty, clean, dry and pack away for the winter.

I would get a large but shallow paddling pool that can be more easily emptied. And DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DC UNSUPERVISED in the garden even for a minute.

actually, scrap that suggestion and get a fun water play inflatable without and standing water.

The water will be freezing!
No matter how baked you feel by the sun.

Our friends had one last summer, was great fun but it did ruin the grass. They have built decking to put it on this summer!

We've had one the last two summers it's brilliant, but I don't give a monkeys about my grass (it's a rough mole hill ridden field), my DDs are teenage fish who look out for each other and their friends and most important of all DH has a chemistry degree.

With small DCs and no fence or foolproof way if disabling the ladder, no way.

We bought a slightly smaller pool (and substantially cheaper.)

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3653382.htm

We had it up for a week before half term and dd loved it. Major drawbacks is that it does take ages to fill and empty. It is really more of a proper pool than a paddling pool. If you want to have the same water in it all summer then you will need water treatment kit

The difficulty you will find with a large pool is getting it warm enough for your ds. I got dd a wet suit so that she would be comfortable playing in the pool.

Its one of those purchases which is a lot of fun, but not necessarily sensible. Its probably cheaper to go the local pool.

We have a patio area we could put one of these on instead. DH is game for that because it's warm, and won't kill any grass.

We already have a water table for the small one, which he enjoys

I got the same one as Ziggie it's great and I attached the hose to the hot tap in the kitchen to fill it so it wasn't too cold! Did take ages though

Unless you can afford to fill it with warm water it will be very cold most of the time. We got a giant paddling pool and was only really bareable either when filled with warm water or during the mid day sun.

I have the same pool as reallytired. It's brilliant - the kids splash around and all I have to do is sit there and watch them

Is the ground around it an issue?

We had the same pool as ReallyTired and I thoroughly recommend it.

We had brilliant fun and it easily fitted 2 adults, 2 kids and lots of floaty toys.

Yes they do take hours to fill but if it needed a 100% water change, I'd start filling as soon as the kids went to school, so it was ready (or thereabouts) by the time they got home.

And yes, fill it with warm water and get a solar cover.

The covers really do help to keep a small amount of heat in.

Do you mean mud? It's never been an issue in my garden, which drains well anyway.

we had one for a few years - but it cost a third of that

it does ruin the grass, but a bit of grass seed in Sept soon sorts it out, chlorine can be pricey, you have to refill lots as all the splashing you lose a lot of water, which is pretty costly if on water meter. You will be v popular and have your garden full of all the neighbourhood kids all summer which is lovely - but they need to bring their own towels.

We put ours on the patio because we feared for our lawn!

and the ground really needs to be perfectly flat - a slight slope is v noticeable when you set the pool up.

See now DH is trying to persuade me for one of the lazy spa things here and I also linked up thread... Our patio could take that quite easily.

Solves the heat issue and it's smaller.

We've got one of those big Intex (?) ones. We leave it up year round and we are on our fourth year now... It's fab but very ugly!

I thought hot tubs were not recommended for DC under 8. I know at my local health club DCs have to be 14 to use it and strictly for 30 mins no more.

Butterfly, our lawn is annoyingly slopey so we could never get it exactly level.

The kids used to refer to one side of the pool as the deep end

Good point intheend

Can you buy heaters for the pools? God, they're such an eyesore! I wonder if I could float about serenely on a lilo?

We got 2 lilos side by side in our pool, although there wasn't room for anything else.

You can buy heaters and the pools come with filters, but they are sometimes noisy.

When I went to a Neighbourhood Watch meeting years ago, one neighbour was complaining about another one's pool heater/filter, keeping them awake