In 1893, ten years after his arrival in Giverny, Claude Monet bought a plot of land on the other side of the railway. A small stream, the ru, a diversion of the Epte, ran through it. Despite the opposition of the neighbours, Monet dug the first pond. In a letter to the Prefect of the Eure, he declared: “It is only a matter of pleasure and for the pleasure of the eyes, and also for the purpose of a painting motif; I only cultivate in this pond plants such as water lilies, reeds, irises of different varieties which generally grow spontaneously along our river, and there can be no question of poisoning the water.”