I would really appreciate help if anyone has knowledge on my idea. Hope I can explain.
We have recently cleared an area in our garden of overgrown shrubs in which these is a tiny 'stream/ditch' of running water down side garden. Think small about 4 - 8 inch across. Some places boggy and stagnant with not much fall, but in others it runs faster over stones/sand. In total 30m long.
This is sourced by a mixture of springs and rain water channelled into a pipe at the top. Our garden slopes and it goes from point A to point B in the winding channel/ditch and then into a pipe out the garden. (all gardens eventually run into woods and water)
We are installing French drains in this area and piping in this ditch, as some parts are very boggy, and we want to grass/plant.
However, I would like to keep a 4 m section open in the middle. The water is clean, fresh and always runs - even in summer. I think we could make the fall work so it isn't stagnant and it would make a lovely nature feature for birds and wildlife. As the garden slopes we would open the pipe near the surface and onto a lined channel with slate and stones.
It would then go back out into the pipe for the drain and down and out the garden.
The easiest option is to pipe all underground. My husband is being really patient with my idea and vision but it is making the job harder. I would like to show him some others but I can't see anything on google where people have opened French drains. We are doing the work ourselves.
I can't decide if this is a mad idea or inspired! Has anyone else done this? If so I would really appreciate seeing the end results. Thank you.