The Water is the part of the masterplan people ask about first. It is a swimming pond rather than a pool: there is no chlorine, no blue liner and no pump room humming behind a hedge.

Instead, a third of the surface is given over to a regeneration zone where reeds, rushes and gravel beds do the cleaning. Water moves slowly through the roots and returns clear.

Swimming with the seasons

The pond changes through the year. In spring it is cool and bright; by late summer it is warm at the surface and the dragonflies arrive. Residents tell us the first swim of the morning is the reason they get up.

It is the only pool we know that looks better each year.