Page 48 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 17
P. 48

VISIT TO


                                                                                                                 GATWICK KOI


                                                                                                                  David Brown



                                                                                                                 It was a warm, sunny, Bank Holiday afternoon in May,
                                                                                                                 when I paid a visit to Gary and Sue at Gatwick Koi with a
                                                                                                                 few of my friends from the South East Koi Club who I
                                                                                                                 had arranged to meet there.

                                                                                                                 We were greeted, as usual, with a nice cup of tea. and
                                                                                                                 browsed around the shop. One of our members had
                                                                                                                 come to collect a Showa and a Shiro Utsuri he had
                                                                                                                 purchased on ‘Black Friday’, last year, but within minutes
                                                                                                                 he had a Matsue Kohaku in the bowl, but that’s Martin!
                                                                                           GATWICK KOI           Gatwick Koi operates out of two buildings, the shop and
                                                                                                                 the quarantine facility which is situated a short walk
                                                                                           OPERATES              away. As you walked into the shop the main pond
                                                                                                                 contained mainly Gosanke, mostly around 70cm, along
                                                                                           FROM TWO              one side there was a small pond with some small high
                                                                                           BUILDINGS,            quality Matsue Kohaku and Takigawa Sanke Tosai, in
                                                                                                                 another area there were 4 ponds with a wide selection
                                                                                           THE SHOP              of varieties and sizes.

                                                                                           AND THE               At the rear of the building there were more ponds, one of
                                                                                                                 which held Koi that had been sold, including Martin’s
                                                                                           QUARANTINE            Omosako Shiro Utsuri – now we had the job of finding it!
                                                                                           FACILITY              When purchased they were only 18cm, now they were
                                                                                                                 over 25cm and the Sumi had developed significantly,
                                                                                                                 after a short time comparing photos on phones we
                                                                                                                 located it.

                                                                                                                 The Showa was easy to find, the Sumi had developed
                                                                                                                 well and even the Motoguro was developing nicely too.
                                                                                                                 It was not expensive and a Koi which will be interesting
                                                                                                                 to see how it develops.
                                                                                                                 We bowled more Koi and after lengthy discussions one
                                                                                                                 guy purchased a very nice 50cm Kohaku, it had a horse
                                                                                                                 shoe head pattern, a simple large Koi pattern with even
                                                                                                                 Beni, a Koi with a future. Someone else bowled a 52cm
                                                                                                                 Momotaro Sanke, the Beni was bright and consistent
                                                                                                                 and the Sumi was developing too.
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