There may be many reasons why you find yourself having the compulsion to create a puddle clay lined garden pond rather than utilising modern pond construction techniques.

With clay being the original lining material of choice for the canal network it has a proven track record in making watertight structures. The good news is that puddle clay is a cheap material to acquire, although this is offset against the high cost of actually transporting what is a heavy raw material.

Clay may well have a proven track record but there are pro’s and con’s to its use. There is also no guarantee that your own site will be suitable for a clay construction. Assuming that your site is suitable, and you decide to proceed with a clay construction then you must be prepared for more than a little hard work.

Puddle clay is quite simply clay with all of the air squeezed out through the process of puddling. This creates a watertight layer. Some of the advantages of puddle clay are that it gives a very natural looking pond and if you do have a local source of clay it is a very cheap material. Some disadvantages are that the liner is labour intensive to install and can potentially require regular maintenance. As the liner is thicker than other liners it does necessitate a deeper excavation, also, it is necessary to ensure that the pond is always kept full or there is a high risk of dry clay cracking.