Chris and Bev – Heads in the Clouds

We have two massive piles of topsoil, created by Mark’s seemingly dare-devil, but totally measured and safe, dumper driving. The soil – which looks good – will now sit there for quite a while until we can see how much material we have, and the levels of landscaping and lawns that will evolve around the … More 16th August 2021

On Thursday afternoon Page and Mark turned up to start the preparatory groundworks. They’ve started with stripping and stockpiling the topsoil from the central area in front of the house. The subsoils and rubble excavated from the new house footprint will then be dumped here and in due course covered over by a new lawn. … More 13th August 2021

You’d think we had more important things to do, wouldn’t you, than to find time to enter the East Knoyle scarecrow competition! Our entry of ‘Batwoman and the Builder’ is a fairly blunt dig at our bat-related planning delays. We’re hoping the Council Ecologist doesn’t visit the village …

Back to work for us both on what is forecast to be the last damp day for a while. Hurrah! Between showers Bev has been painting the potting shed doors and windows a shade of green – ‘wood sage’ – that will match the greenhouse when and if it ever arrives, the current date being … More 9th August 2021

Piet Oudolf’s ‘prairie planting’ garden at the Hauser and Wirth gallery in Bruton (Notting Hill in Somerset) has given us some exciting inspiration for the garden. The beds are domed to enhance different heights of planting, rammed with perennials and grasses, and edged with steel. We’ll have to see how a couple of beds like … More 4th August 2021

Socialising after the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions has been fun and has meant that we’ve hardly progressed on ‘the project’ at all. Time that we’ve had in the garden has been spent mowing and strimming, trying to keep things under control as everything grows in the warmth, the sunshine and the rain showers. We’d … More 25th July 2021

We had a flaming nice time with Kim and Brenda last Tuesday but have then both been ill – though not with Covid thankfully (according to the tests ….). It’s Freedom Day tomorrow!

No more Euros, no more Wimbledon, no more distractions and excuses to not be working in the garden, no more torrential rain?! Apart from warming up suppliers and contractors, there’s a limit to what we can do on the house. Our main contractor, MBC of Gloucester, is finalising the design of the timber frame, and … More 14th July 2021