On the level
One of the biggest challenges at number four has been the garden. The early images show a sprawling plot that had been pretty muchcovered with sheds and outhouses. When these were filled, various heaps of rubbish and materials were simply left to fester in the garden. One of the largest heaps was covered in ivy and upon further investigation proved to be several thousand London Stock bricks which had come from the walled garden whichhad been knocked down to make way for a never built garage.
Although we had cleared the garden of sheds the main rubbish at the beginning of the project, actually tackling the garden proper has been deferred - until now.
The garden is 150ft long and about 35ft wide. What makes this garden so great, ie size, is also it's weakness in terms of landscaping it. The costs of tackling this, even to merely fence and turf, had seemed prohibitive. To actually incorporate any sort of design seemed impossible as the plot itself slopes up toward the end of the garden and is about 1m higher on the left. Wehad already figured we would need a JCB to get the area terraced or even levelled butthen we had the problemof removing the earthwhich had been excavated. In fact this problem was solved by Sarah Hammond who devised a design incorporating a bank at the rear of the garden which wouldcreate interest, retain thedifferent level running along the back of the garden and could use all of the earth that we had moved. The moving of the earth began on Monday and already the garden is beginning to take shape.
Following through from the kitchen extension we are having a terrace at the same floor level and covered in the same tiles. The levels for this have already been dug and we have a concrete slab by the end of Saturday. The tiles are porcelain and can be used inside and out with just a variation of finish to prevent slipping. As we cannot afford any planting at the moment I am hopeful that the terrace will create enough impact until we stumble across another stash of cash. The terrace will appear to float and the channel at the edges will also incorporate the drainage. Steps will be made from shuttered concrete that will then be faced in the tiles used for the floor. Sarah has created some amazing images and her attention to detail puts me to shame. I have reached the stage in the project where to have any sort of garden would be amazing but with her determination I think it is going to be much more than the sum of it's parts. She has also designed some further stages so that if and when we have more cash the design will grow in stages. Mrs Hammond I salute you.
We have had a bit of a touch with the landscaper too. Peter McKnight is a mate of Barry McGovern our builder who put us in touch to get this project of the ground. He was a landscaper in exotic parts but has more recently beeninvolved in laying sports surfaces and pitches - no wonder our plot did not faze him when he is used to laying 10000m of football pitch. He and his team arrived , pulled out the last of the old sheet metal fencing, rid us of our rotting trees and drove the JCB for all they were worth. My kids have been transfixed by the giant digger and dumper at the back and to watch Pete operate them has been a source of wonderment. Maybe Bob the Builder theme parties at our gaff could bring in the bacon?