Preserving Beauty

Coy Pond is a Victorian creation dating back to 1888, made using the outfall of the Bourne stream. The pond then flows into the main stream via a conduit under the road and the meadow beyond.‘Coy’ is an abbreviation of ‘decoy’ pond, as it was originally intended for wildfowl shooting. It replaced an earlier pond in central Bournemouth, which was on the present site of the war memorial. Coy Pond is now a pleasantly wooded area underplanted with shrubs. It is at right angles to the Bourne stream, the slope from Coy Pond Road terraced by an attractive rockery some 550 feet long. This marks a slice of the Bourne valley,a total of 9 acres, with the pond itself covering over three quarters of an acre.​

The original creation of ‘Friends of Coy Pond’ in 1998 was linked with the Bourne Stream Partnership. The function of ‘The Friends’ has always been to maintain and enhance the whole area. However, the approach and composition has varied over the years. Originally it was ‘the residents of the 191 households in the vicinity of Coy Pond’. Now open to all, with the majority of the garden volunteers now coming from the wider area. The original approachwas to fund raise for planting and improvement by the council. Now plants are donated and planting is carried out largely by the volunteers, with donations from local residents, and occasionally from the council. The council of course owns the land and is responsible for capital works, trees, water quality and so on.