Chris and Bev – Heads in the Clouds

This has been a busy week and at times a messy one, but by the weekend, random piles of earth have been spread, collapsed trenches filled in, surplus bricks stacked, and rubbish cleared away, so it looks like we (kind of) know what we’re doing after all …

Paul the Brick has been with us for a few weeks but has now finished. The gable ends of the store are up and he’s tidied and repaired the brickwork around the north gate. He won’t miss his long drive from home near Yeovil. We’ll miss Milo his dog (still in disgrace after running off with and losing the stick that marked the location of the soakaway), his eclectic and chilling choice of music, and the sound of his guitar on lunch breaks.

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The main job for Matt and his digger was the trench through the site for the electric cable, ready for Scottish and Southern’s contractors on Monday. It’s a relief that’s been done in good time. Where there’s rubble or stones that could damage the cable you have to put down sand to protect the cable (even though it’s armoured).

Other jobs Chris, Matt and Tristan got on with were clearing an area for some hard standing in front of the wellhouse, digging out the greenhouse base, and trying to put in some drainage around the greenhouse.

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We have a messy challenge around the greenhouse where a combination of water draining under the wall from Barn Hill and the soft, silty greensand is creating a blanc-mange of ground conditions. It’s horrible and we’ll have to see if our attempts at drainage help. We may be wearing wellies inside the greenhouse …

Trevor was very happy to be on higher ground with his feet out of the mud and water (and away from the industrial language in the trenches), putting the slates on the roof of the store.

It’ll be a shame that there must be a ceiling in the store as we’ll lose the airy high roof and the wall space, but this is where we have to provide loft space for (all those!) bats to come and roost. We’re still pleased with the building and are now planning where we’ll put a stove, racks for tools and a bench for potting – it is a potting shed after all!