On the 26th of July, the members of the Cambridgeshire Koi Club boarded their mini bus and jumped in their cars and headed north to the ponds, gardens and amazing hospitality  of the East Midlands Koi Club (EMKC).

The EMKC member base covers a very large area, so the day was broken into two sections, the first was a couple of ponds in the Rugby area on our way up the M6 and the second was 3 ponds in the Burton area as well as a drop into Richdon Koi and then a meal before heading homeward.

The first stop of the day was that of Greg and Nadine Sutton and their 3000 gallon pond. Walking through the front door to a warm welcome from the EMKC members that had descended to meet us and the smell of bacon and sausages on the hob made getting up before the birds well worth it!

Greg and Nadine’s pond was built in 2005 (all built by Greg) and features block built filtration, 2 windows and reverse Osmosis, the pond is a credit to them both and proves that when you’re happy to get dirty you can achieve great things. The garden is obviously well cared for and has some very nice Acers helping to create a nice tranquil atmosphere for the rather large dog that greeted us all with a woof.

This pond is home to some 11 koi, mainly Go-Sanke due to Gregs passion for appreciation, but does also include a chagoi, an ogon and a rather large Shiro Utsuri as seen in the pictures below.

After Greg and Nadine’s we headed off for the short drive across town to the home and ponds of Paul and Liz. The main pond is some 5000 gallons of block built construction and fibreglass lining with a large window perfectly placed to be visible from the kitchen, perfect for out lovely British weather! The pond also features a large block built filter that holds some 300 ltrs of K1, a bead filter for final polishing and 6kw of electric heater!!

We must thank Paul for taking the time to grab his net and bowl some of his stunning collection; it made the rather typical weather bearable.

Paul also has a smaller growing on pond, but when you think of small don’t think low, this pond is a good 7ft deep and it’s all out of ground, as you can see from the picture, some of our members made good use of the steps provided.