The new year started as the last finished… busy making the most of many willing workers (and Jasper) and the digger (thanks to Robert for the loan and David behind the controls). We were making great progress, having cleared along the front of the house, up towards the small walled garden and a good half of the tennis court until one of the hydraulic lines ruptured. Many phonecalls and a rapid self taught module in hydraulics for CAT diggers and we had a new part made up and fitted within a week.
With the digger out of action and the weather holding up (sort of) we turned our attention to the glasshouse base ahead of the new frame arriving in early April. The walls were literally crumbling so had to be taken down, the bricks cleaned, a new foundation dug (including the removal of some monster roots) and then the concrete laid. Tony also managed to get the majority of the main garden wall above the glasshouse repointed as well and we found more metalwork hidden in the undergrowth. Later we’ll have to build the brickwork back up…
Other activities included clearing the branches felled in the latest storms (thanks Jen), finally getting electricity into the main house (which was a lot harder work than the pictures of the two fuseboxes suggest!) and planting our new hedge in the mounds of earth created by clearing the tennis court (thanks to Sue!)
We also got some updates from the people renovating our Glasshouse, the Victorian Glasshouse Company:
And last but not least here are some photos of the snowdrops appearing:
Hallyards 