Eastgate House pond renovation in Rochester

A pond in a garden with a story

Eastgate House stands on Rochester High Street. It is a Grade I listed, 16th century Elizabethan town house, and its gardens contain the Swiss chalet that Charles Dickens used as a writing study. That makes the surroundings an important part of this project’s story: the pond sits within an established garden, beside historic buildings and garden paths.

Our task was to renovate the pond within that setting. The photographs show how its stone edges, timber bridge and planting beds define its shape. Clearing the growth and renewing the interior allowed those features, and the water between them, to become visible again. Read more about the house and chalet on Medway Council’s Eastgate House page.

Before: a pond dominated by planting

The starting photographs show reeds and other pond plants covering much of the surface. From the paths, it was difficult to see the full layout or appreciate the open water. This was a substantial clearance and renovation, with planting to manage and an interior that needed to be exposed before the next stages could begin.

Our before and after Facebook post describes two large skips being used during the clean out. The sequence below shows the scale of the growth and how much more of the pond became visible as the work progressed.

Draining, clearing and looking after the pond inhabitants

We began by draining the pond and clearing vegetation. The Friends’ project account records that fish, newts and some retained plants were kept in temporary holding pens for the duration of the work. They were returned when the pond was refilled.

Once the growth was removed, the planting structures, floor and walls could be reached. That clearance is an essential part of a renovation like this: the lining work needs access to the pond’s actual shape, including the raised beds and the changes in level around them.

Preparing the planting beds with concrete and render

The empty pond revealed the gravel filled planting structures described in the Friends’ article. We concreted and rendered the beds before fibreglassing. The work photographs show the difference between the exposed structures, the rendering in progress and the prepared surfaces ready for lining.

The beds are part of the pond’s design, so the renovation needed to work around their shape. Showing this stage matters: the finished water surface conceals much of the preparation that went into the interior.

Fibreglass lining around the pond’s shape

With the beds prepared, we fibreglassed the pond interior. Our own project post confirms this stage, and the photographs show the lining following the floor, walls and shaped planting beds. A later view shows the black lined interior before refill.

These are construction photographs, rather than finished pond views. Together they explain how the visible transformation was achieved. If you are considering this type of work, our pond fibreglassing service explains more about lining an existing or newly built pond.

After: open water within the historic garden

After refill, the pond’s outline and individual planting areas could be seen clearly. The later photographs show open water, plants within the defined beds and the surrounding buildings reflected on the surface. They also show how the pond sits beside the garden paths and bridge.

We shared the before and after photo set on 14 September 2025. It records the visual result of the renovation; the earlier Friends’ article provides a separate account of completion and the care being given to the pond after refill.

Eastgate House project gallery

Follow the photographs from the original planting through clearance, bed preparation, lining and refill. Each image is labelled by the stage it shows.