New pond

shazza 3

hello. i'm thinking of building a small pond next spring. i'm wondering how to stop an overflow of water spilling out of the pond especially given the amount of rain that we are currently having. we get a lot of rain (all year unfortunately) so any advice would be grateful. thanks   

Hostafan1

I'd make it as big as possible, and create a " bog" area around it which won't mind the occasional waterlogging.

Fairygirl

It'll just disperse into the surroundings. That's what happens here anyway. 
Have you got a photo of the site? 
You can always have a small channel/rill to divert any excess.

shazza 3

unfortunately it will have to be a raised pond due to the grandchildren and dogs that we look after. The children will be fine as they are in school all day and not allowed out by themselves but two out of the three dogs (one's a labrador) will end up in the pond, the other one is a fraidy cat !!!! do i not fill it right to the edge ??

Fairygirl

You can certainly not fill it, but it'll fill when it rains. 
It will also compromise the depth, so you'd need to be sure it had enough depth to be worth having at all. It'll warm up a lot if it's very shallow.

shazza 3

thank you. i'm going to do a lot of research before spring before any digging starts.  

Fairygirl

As @Hostafan1 says, you would usually just have appropriate planting next to it as well, but if it's raised, that becomes much harder. 

shazza 3

sorry, i'm confused. makes what much harder ???

Fairygirl

You wouldn't be able to have a boggy area in the same way as you could if the pond was at ground level 
Have you thought of just having a conventional pond, and putting a small fence round it instead? Just something simple made of trellis, or battens. 

Joyce Goldenlily

shazza 3 said:

hello. i'm thinking of building a small pond next spring. i'm wondering how to stop an overflow of water spilling out of the pond especially given the amount of rain that we are currently having. we get a lot of rain (all year unfortunately) so any advice would be grateful. thanks   

Are you thinking of building a retaining wall to contain your Pond? Are you thinking of putting any fish in the pond? A green tench is a useful addition to any pond as it is a bottom feeder, once in your pond you never see them again. It would need to be approximately 4 ft deep if you are to avoid worrying about fish freezing in very cold weather. It is always a good idea to put a shelf in a pond to stand pots on for plants and also a beach end for critters to climb in and out. You can buy plastic liner with pebble dash stuck onto it to lay around the edge over the main pond liner. 
I have a pond which is about 6ft across and is 4 ft deep in the centre, it has a shelf 12 ins down from the edge and 12 ins wide, on which I grow miniature waterlilies in pots. Ordinary waterlilies grow huge so much too big for my little pond but I have frogs, toads, newts, lots of buzzy things visit. It is slightly raised but when it overflows surplus water just drains down through the surrounding border and then under slate chippings on the path around the edge. It is important to have access most of the way around a pond for easy maintainance. There are plenty of plants that enjoy growing in damp conditions, I have primula, iris and diaramas, Angels Fishing Rods and marsh marigolds, the double variety. Wild primroses self seed vigourously so are obviously happy. 
A pond is fascinating and a terrible time waster in my garden, I can sit watching for far too long, much more interesting than housework. I have a dog who doesn't like getting his feet wet and a cat who I think took a dive trying to catch one of the fish so steers clear of the edge now. The cat came in one day, not long after I had put the fish in the pond, soaking wet from head to toe. Enough said. There is loads of info.out there giving tips and advice for building ponds, it is a matter of deciding how big you want to go.
Good luck and enjoy.

Fairygirl

We had a slightly similar thing at a previous house @Joyce Goldenlily. The garden sloped, and we built a retaining wall, which formed part of the retaining wall coming from the back garden along the side of the new extension, to contain a reasonable sized pond. Not as high as yours though!     
Having fish is a whole different ballgame though. We had the odd stickleback which appeared courtesy of plants etc, but it was a great source of interest, and right in front of our lounge window, so the girls could watch from the house too. 
I've had ponds of all sizes, and even a tiny one is valuable if you get the site and the surroundings right.