Come talk to me about pools...

[MizZan]

So we are considering buying a house, which has a pool in the back garden. This is not the size or type of house or the sort of neighborhood where you would expect to see a pool - it takes up a fair bit of the garden and no one else around has one (we live in a town, not rural or village where people have more space). If it weren't there already I would never consider having one, but since it's there, we have to think about what we would do with it/whether we would keep it.

Does anyone have experience with how much it costs to fill in or remove a pool (it's set into the ground but with sort of raised patio tiling around it, so if we filled it in, the area would not be level with the rest of the garden)? This is one option we're considering but the house is already at the top end of what we can afford so this may not be an option.

Anyone have one and love it? Hate it? Safety issues? Cost to maintain? How much hassle is it? Our kids are still young enough that I would be concerned about safety, and even if they became stronger swimmers of course we would be worried about friends etc. But on the other hand it would certainly be nice in some ways. Any thoughts or suggestions welcome...

Sory no advice but I will be watching this post with interest. We bought a house in March with a Hydrotherapy pool in the extension. We aren't sure what to do with it either, at the moment it is full of water with a cover on it and the door is locked. We talk about getting it up and running, but there is always something else to spend the money on. Plus I ould iamgine it would be expensive to run as it would need to be kept at a constant temperature. I keep thinking the room would make a lovely study/snug, but then is it a shame to fill the pool in?

I have a pool in the garden and we absolutely love it, its the easiest way to entertain children during the summer and I wouldn't be without one now.

If you don't want one then speak to a builder about filling it in before you buy, apparently it is a bit of a night mare!

Wrt to running costs ours comes to about £1000 pa but it's on from Easter to September at 30c. I clean it and maintain the chemicals but I have a company to commission it in the spring and close it in the autumn. That figure accounts for roughly 2 call outs for the cover (ours is electric and spectacularly complicated) or other emergencies.

Tacky and pointless in this climate. Maintenance costs a lot ('pool-boys' can be cute though)and you won't use it much anyway.

We have an inground heated pool. In the first year we paid someone £30 a month to maintain it. We can now do it ourselves. It takes a fair bit of maintaining during the summer. We don't have toddlers but our dog regularly throws herself in.

It is an absolute joy to have and is a magnet for DS's friends.We have great pool parties and will open it up from end of April to end of September.

Ours is run on a gas boiler and is reasonably expensive. The chemicals over the summer can add to the cost too.

Enough with the tacky and pointless! We love ours. We're in the SE and get lovely weather.

All mnetters invited to the next one.........cept for Rollmops

Had a pool in our last house, found it a bit of a pain to maintain, expensive to heat and some summer it was only used 3 or 4 times. It wasn't worth it in my opininon!

. Relieved at potential reduction in wine consumption :o