Michael Littlewood

Did you know that there's a strong trend toward creating ponds that are made for swimming in Germany and Austria?  That revelation came by way of a terrific book I just finished - Natural Swimming Pools:  Inspiration for Harmony with Nature by Michael Littlewood (Schiffer Publishing, 2004). Littlewood is an American landscape designer who moved to Europe several years ago and has since become involved in the design and installation of naturalistic watershapes that are a distinct departure from run-of-the-mill concrete pools we encounter in the United States.   Indeed, he and scores of other watershapers throughout Europe are setting up vinyl-lined ponds that lack most of what we'd recognize as pool features or equipment, but are deep enough and big enough for swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise.  And the simple fact is that their European clients seem inclined to