@theluthier I just watched your casual livestream and was thinking of the dam,
Maybe this will help

This is the type of dam I thought of, the rocks are used to direct the flow of water into a narrow more powerful flow to turn the waterwheel and could be a feature behind the house. To build it would be to reuse some rocks from the front of the house.
The front I see as a more tranquil and peaceful pool of water

or this

a bridge could be added before opening out into a lake like this.