Hurrah! The wellhouse is finished, well nearly … Putting the self-binding gravel down on the apron went okay today except for a hamstring injury for Chris and a problem at the end when the roller nearly rolled (in the wrong way) on its way out. The ‘site tractor’ – the ever-reliable and abused Honda – … More 12th May 2021

We’re making a concerted effort on some of the surfacing in and around the greenhouse and in front of the well-house. Bev’s pleased with what we’re getting done around the garden, but not unreasonably would really like one of the jobs finishing. So that might just be the well-house, where we’re laying an apron in … More 11th May 2021

We can recommend BBC’s new series,The Great Northern Garden Build, which covers the RHS’s development of its huge new Bridgewater garden in Salford, including over 11 acres of walled gardens and a budget of £30 million. Some of the challenges and issues seem familiar – wall repairs, boggy ground conditions and piling, arsenic contamination, tree … More 10th May 2021

A nice stroll down to the Village Hall to cast our votes

The fresh planning issues will probably delay us two or three months and most likely means another winter in the caravan. But the swathes of bluebells and seeing friends are cheering us up. Fortunately we’ve got about 20 years’ worth of gardening to get stuck into and keep us busy. We’re working on the areas … More 4th May 2021

The bats have bitten back! We’ve had bad news on the planning application – seven weeks after the consultation deadline and three weeks after the extended determination deadline a Wiltshire Council ecologist objected to the house application. To cut a long story short, we now have to appoint consultants to produce a light spillage assessment … More 2nd May 2021

A lovely visit to Knoyle Place, the former rectory in the village, on a NGS open gardens day with Genevieve and Ollie reinforced to us that creating a garden is going to take a very long time! The bluebells are out on yet another warm, sunny day. It’s no surprise that April is one of … More 24th April 2021

While the electrical excitement has been going on around them this week, Dave, Curtis and Dave 2 too have been plugging away to get the store finished. They’ve put in the ceiling, windows and doors. New grandparents to Sienna, Graham and Julia came for lunch and to test-drive the swing seat.

So today was the big day. Hoards of Connect IT chaps were back to connect up the two ends of the new cable and remove the redundant poles and cable. They were business-like and proficient, with numerous vehicles and bits of kit. What seemed like a big deal to us must be the equivalent of … More 22nd April 2021