[Gill Catton]

Of course the obvious is to look at the lie of the land and look at how you reckon water would drain though the soil and place your pond at the lowest point possible and good and low compared to the topsoil layer to maximise natural overland drainage into the pond. Apoloies if this teaching you to suck eggs as it were but you'd be amazed how many man made ponds I come across where this most obvious of considerations for a pond location is completely ignored - many even have a lip higher than the surrounding soil and unsuprisingly struggle to hold water even once in three years........