AIBU to have a pond or water feature in a city garden?

[thornyhousewife]

Terraced townhouse, busy small City.

Is it terrible manners to have a pond or water feature which makes a running water noise?

Haven't moved there yet so don't know the neighbours, but have always wanted a pond.

What do you think? Do you live near a water feature and hate it? Do you have a water feature and it's fine?

Speaking as an amateur gardener here ... ponds are very good for urban wildlife and unless you have a crashing waterfall the sound is unlikely to disturb neighbours. They say that the sound of trickling water is soothing!

No it would make a lovely feature and excellent for wildlife

I like the idea of a trickle! That sounds doable, thanks!

Do it.
Even a mini pond is a useful stop off for frogs.

Gorgeous idea. Do it!

Do it we have one and it's attracted so much wildlife. It makes hardly any noise at all.

This is really reassuring, thank you! I wasn't sure if they were considered to be like windchimes..

It’s great, it makes natural white noise in close environments which dilutes voices and other sound annoyances when living in close proximity. That’s why there are water features in many nice restaurants’ outdoor areas where the acoustics aren’t great.

If you are worried about disturbing your neighbours (mainly at night) you could always have your water feature set on a timer so it turns off at night. We have done this the last few years, haven't been able to this year though as we have tadpoles.

My neighbour has one and me and other neighbours pissed off as loud and 24 hours a day. Could you just do a pond maybe?

Sorry Op would annoy me as a neighbour if it makes a sound at night- also if a family home I wouldn’t buy a house with a pond, with little ones it would concern me

We have a small fountain, which trickles rather than splashes. It serves as a bird bath too. You can't hear it next door and we turn the fountain part off when we're not in the garden anyway. It's poly-whatever so we dissemble it and keep in in the garage from November to March, and then pop it back on the patio when the frosts stop.

Would something like that work, or were you going for a bigger, permanent pond?

Would really annoy me. I wouldn't find that soothing when I try to sleep

Ok good to get different perspectives, thank you.

I will look at a timer for switching off at night.

I'm not sure if a pond without running water will work, doesn't it need movement to oxygenate it or it will become stagnant. I have a lot to learn!

I live in an inner city area and I would hate it if my neighbours did this. It would prevent me using my garden to sit. There's already normal noise of people living, grandchildren, bbqs, even a wind chime - all fine - but this sort of mechanical noise drives me nuts. It's not a mountain stream, it's a broken cistern fill noise to me.

Just my opinion ... by all means have a pond, but not a water feature. Goldfish?

I've made a wildlife water corner with a couple of old saucepans, the edges are covered so you can't see the metal anymore. I've even split a water plant and squished a couple of water grasses in each pan.
It's a little overgrown corner that I leave to get on with it.

I have a half barrel with a miniature waterlily. No pump, filter or fountain. In fact, waterlilies won’t grow in running water. It’s low maintenance - I just scoop out excessive sludge every spring.

I have birds and squirrels visiting it for a drink.

If you live in a city then surely there's already a fair amount of ambient noise?

And this is, as things go, a more pleasant ambient noise than cars or buses or gates or doors or people talking or foxes shagging.

How loud are people imagining a pond is, that it'd disturb their sleeping?

That's a great idea meglet, I may do the same with an old washing up bowl.

Ponds without running water are fine and will attract wildlife. You’ll need to do a bit of maintenance every so often. Am sure that there must be pumps though that are much less noisy than my neighbours.

Please please if you MUST do this, make it turn off at night and when people might want to sleep (bank holiday mornings). Our neighbour had one and the "gentle trickle of running water" almost drove me to murderous thoughts

How loud are people imagining a pond is, that it'd disturb their sleeping?

Firstly I live in a very quiet cul da sac in London, just because it’s london doesn’t mean everywhere is noisy. Also I’d actually rather a loud brief noise then a meek constantly drip drip sound- it would drive me insane!

"Attracts wildlife" sounds nice, conjuring images of twittering wrens and baby frogs and so forth, but it also means "attracts rats" if you're in a busy city.

Rats are an issue in all urban environments, and rats need a regular source of water. I wouldn't be adding something to my property that makes it more attractive to them.

@megletthesecond Do you have a picture?

Would love to see a pic too, it sounds lovely