Bombs away: More home owners take the plunge on ‘baby’ backyard pools

If practising bombs in a backyard pool is your idea of a great day, go ahead and get a big pool. But if your pool fantasy is a relaxing body of water that calms both body and mind, then you’ll understand why the plunge pool is on the rise.

For many garden owners plunge pools make more sense than big pools. The smaller scale dials down the dramas of pool ownership – it cuts maintenance time and cost, makes pool covers easier to remove, makes heating a more affordable possibility and benefits the garden design bottom line.

A smaller pool also allows room for all the other functions the modern garden needs to tick off. As garden space shrinks due to bigger houses on smaller blocks, the list of demands on that space only increases. “The outside is like the inside now,” says designer Matt Leacy of Landart. “Clients want a living section, a dining section, a kitchen, maybe a fireplace or perhaps fire pit seating, as well as a grassy zone, and other planted areas to fit whatever are the local requirements for landscaped space.” And then there’s the pool.

Leacy has noted an increased demand for plunge pools, which he defines as a pool too small to dive into. “You have to kind of drift into a plunge pool,” he says. He encourages clients to make at least part of the plunge pool a good two metres deep, enabling complete submersion, and even exercise, if that’s your thing.

The vibe of a plunge pool though is much more about relaxation than activity. “It’s less of a play area and a more tranquil experience,” says Leacy, “and the setting, including the materials and textures used, should be really beautiful and in tune with that sense of relaxation”.

As with any pool, Leacy advises developing a holistic approach to the whole garden, not just dropping in a pool. “No pool should be considered in isolation. No matter what size it is, it has to be considered in relation to the house and the rest of the landscaped area.”

A pool will give the best result – whether that’s bringing life to a dead zone of the garden, getting the right amount of sun, facing the best direction – when it is considered holistically as part of the entire space.

In a recent design for a newly renovated house on Sydney’s northern beaches, Leacy situated a plunge pool at the back of the garden, to draw people out of the house. “It’s a circular pool, with nicely detailed soft white render, set off to the side of a lounge and dining/kitchen area. It gives a really striking view from the kitchen and makes a strong visual destination that invites you to the backyard.”

Once the new planting establishes, the pool will nestle into lush, broad-leaved foliage plants that complement the existing palms and frangipani – and being non-climbable, effectively and safely hide the required fence. The result? No bombs but a seductively serene swim.

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