Cheap but effective pond covers (for child proofing)

[lechatnoir]

As the title says really, I'm after a cover to make the large pond in my newly acquired back garden child proof. We intend to fill the pond in at some point as we want to reclaim a bit more lawn but can't afford it yet so the cover really does need to be something cheap that will do us this summer.
Any suggestions much appreciated.
LCN

Not that cheap so may not be what you're after but very safe & looks really nice. Thiught I'd pass it on just in case.

www.safaponddirect.co.uk/

FIL just made us one - he used sheets of weld mesh, and managed to add DIY hinges (snipping in the right place and wrapping the ends around a pole) so we can open it up to skim off the duck weed. We did need to add a support strut across the middle (we used some steel cable tracking with a U section), and have anchor points to bolt it down. The whole lot got painted with hamerite.

It took about 2 to 3 days to do including painting, and required an angle grinder (or 2), a very big drill and some heavy duty snipper things, along with hammers, spanners... Our pond is ovalish, with max dimensions of about 4 x 3 m and is surrounded by a slab topped wall (about knee high) that has provided a convenient rest/mount for the cover. If you didn't want it to open then it would be a fair amount quicker. Total cost for materials for ours should be < £150.

The weld mesh has holes that are too big for it to be safe on its own, but its strong enough to walk over - we're going to reduce the hole size by stringing net over the top (doesn't need to be so strong as small area). We don't want to get rid of the pond as we all love it and the wildlife it attracts, DD (3) included. Its not so hard for us as there is a fence that separates the pond from the rest of the garden, so keeping DD away from it hasn't been too tricky.

Hope that helps