Greeting you is the luminous surface of a swimming pool. You do a double-take because it looks like the glassy surface flows directly into the nearby river. But that's impossible because the river is many metres away and at a much lower elevation than the pool.
Playfulness is one of the many delights of Alan and Pat Gale's infinity pool, which they had built last summer on their immaculate property bordering the river near their home.
The pool is called "infinity" because at one end, the water spills over the edge into a basin to be filtered and recirculated into the pool. That edge, which seems to vanish under the water's flow, faces the river, creating the illusion that the pool and river are one.
The 18-foot by 38-foot gem perches at the top of a steep slope at one end of the Gales' handsome stone house. The shapely pool is made of gunnite, a blown-on, very durable concrete. A generous patio abuts the pool, and the squared limestone underfoot picks up on the blended elegance and natural feel of the pool. Patio and pool are partially encircled by a low limestone retaining wall housing a raised bed of grasses, spirea and iris.
"When you're in the pool, you feel like you can swim right into the river," says Pat, adding that sailboats dot the river on weekends. "And when you're sitting on the patio, you can hear the overflow of the pool; it's really relaxing."
Her husband points to the swim bench jutting from one side of the pool just below the water line. "That's much nicer than sitting on the edge. You're in the water a little bit, but you don't have to tread it."
The couple says that with the water flowing continually over the edge, bugs and debris are virtually non-existent in the pool. And because the warmer surface water is always recirculating, the pool stays toasty with only a rare assist from the propane heater.
The Gales had seen infinity pools in the Caribbean and decided to install one to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. The pool, they agree with a laugh, was as much for their grandchildren as it was for themselves.
"We had a pool in our other house when our kids were growing up," says Pat. "The first day we had this one open, I could hear our kids and grandkids laughing and screaming in it, and it took me right back to our other house. It was deja vue."
Like the Gales, who spent close to six figures on their pool and surrounding landscaping, Robert Bruce and Cheryl Ward-Bruce have a sharply sloped backyard. They decided to add a pool four years ago in large part for their then-13-year-old son, Tristan, who still uses it daily.
The obvious place for the pool was tucked at the bottom of the slope, running close to the property line. At one end of the pool is a cabana containing the pump, controls and chemicals. At the other end sits a raised hot tub. Between the pool and hot tub is a compact Sheer Rain waterfall that spills water into a pebble base.
The linear design makes the pool with its surrounding interlock brick appear longer than its 12- by 28-foot size, especially when viewed from the back of the house or the adjoining patio.
Other features include below-water lights that rotate automatically through a range of colours and a pool cover that retracts beneath the interlock brick, making it easily accessible but invisible when not in use. The cover, which costs about $6,000 installed, reduces heating costs by increasing solar gain and slowing heat loss at night; it also discourages the growth of algae.
There are also four fountain jets along each side of the pool which arc streams of water over the surface. Such water features are all the rage, say designers.
"If we're dining on the patio, the sound of the water splashing down is soothing," says Ward-Bruce. "The neighbours enjoy the sound, too."
Like the Gales' pool, there is no diving board, a once-essential accessory that's become less fashionable. And while the Gale pool is over nine feet deep at one end, the Bruce-Ward installation is much shallower, sloping only to six feet at its deepest point.
The Taylor family's pool does have a diving board to go with its deep end. The board is made of three thick chunks of limestone to match the stone surrounding the lagoon-shaped, 22- by 36-foot vinyl pool.
Continuing with the natural theme is a curved poolside bar made of hefty limestone. Three high wrought-iron chairs are pulled up behind it. When Michelle Taylor punches a button on an indoor control panel, water cascades from jets at the top of the bar into the pool. The waterfall was a must-have feature for her husband Cliff, who hails from Niagara Falls.
Cliff, she adds, was initially less than enthusiastic about a pool for their corner lot. You'd never know it now. "We were trying to decide between a cottage and a pool," says the father of five-and-a-half year-old twins, Amy and Lynne. "But we both work and it's so difficult to organize a weekend at a cottage. Here, you've got all the comforts of home. And it's really nice for socializing."
The pool, he says, has become a focal point for family life. The girls clamour to jump in at the end of the workday, and Dad is only too happy to accompany them.
Like many others, the Taylors use salt rather than chlorine for sanitation. Salt is easier on the skin, more environmentally friendly and does a better job of keeping algae at bay because it is dispensed continuously, avoiding the peaks and valleys of occasionally "shocking" the water with chlorine.
The Taylors have combination locks on the wrought-iron gates to ensure no one -- especially small children -- enters the fenced pool yard without permission.
The pool area includes a cedar cabana which houses pool equipment and a waste-composting enviro-toilet. The toilet "saves the girls from dripping water into the house every time they have to go," says their mom.
Altogether, the Taylors' pool and backyard makeover hit six figures. This is their second summer with the pool which, thanks to a natural gas-powered heater, they use from May until Thanksgiving.
-- Canwest News Service
