i quite fancy draining and cleaning my well established pond is there a good/bad time of year to do this also any tips or pitfalls would be greatly appreciated. the pond isn't filthy but id like to get it back up to looking pristine

Assuming you have not done it already, don't.

As its now Autumn and leaves are falling from trees, they will get into your pond (Unless of course its netted)

Yes any thing that should not be in your pond should be removed, and yes leaves and any other plant material will rot, but unless you can get them all out, the general opinion is to leave a pond clean up until the mild weather next year, then give the pond a very thorough clean. (More about that Next year)

Dundeejamie, if the weather is still fairly mild up there, you could do a little maintenance now I'm sure. The problem with doing anything major in the spring is if you leave it too late you will upset the wildlife. My pond goes crazy in the spring with a lot of activity, probably the busiest (and noisiest!) time of the year with frogs, toads, newts etc.

You could try some basic cleaning, remove debris a little at a time. I have an Oase Pond Vac which I used to use when my pond had been neglected by previous owners. Bit of a pain but once I got to hang of it, was quite effective!

Good luck!

i do ongoing maintenance as a matter of course but fancied a spring clean i use an oase vac as well but my lilies have covered nearly all the surface area this year so i didn't fancy disturbing them till they'd died back