New Wall for the Orchard

At Christmas Russell our stone mason slipped over and broke a knee cap, so he has been off work until the middle of March which meant he was not able to finish to main wall.

To help him ease back into work as he had lost a lot of his fitness and also had to wait for his knee to mend we asked him to create a small stone wall to hold back the earth by the garage and orchard. I have planted some Aubretia in pockets within the wall, but I don't think they are surviving too well because the ducks have been busy pecking at them. I will try and replant in the autumn.

Medieval Barn

The wet winter and exceptionally cold weather in February has caused a lot of damage to the medieval barn and alot of the rendering has fallen off in patches, so we have been busy repairing and painting sections of the barn. The rendering on the chimney for the cottage also fell off, but when the scaffolding was put up for the repair work it was worse than we thought, so Andy our builder took down the whole stack and rebuilt it. The only good thing was when he took off the brick work it revealed part of the original stone chimney.

Snowy start to 2010

We had snow on Wednesday 6th January but at least we only had 4inches and we haven't suffered like the rest of the country. Today (Thursday) I awoke to a beautiful sunny day with an amazing blue sky. I just had to take a photograph of Dunkery with Fairgarden Farm in the foreground. We have this view to the west from our fields. I walked to Wootton Courtenay village today and it reminded me of an Alpine walk with the sun shining on the glistening snow. The road was icy near the village so I took a detour along a bridleway and crossed a field of ponies to reach the village without having to go up the hill. I met several local people out shopping and walking dogs and only a couple of vehicles driving through the village road which was clear of snow. The horses enjoyed rolling in the snow this morning, but the goats refused to come out of their house and I think the ducks are a bit fed up as half of their pond is covered in ice, although the water is running through it from the stream.

Conversion of the Old Barn

We have started clearing out the old barn so that we can have six indoor stables. The roof has to held up with acro-props as the telegraph poles are in the wrong place for the stables and will have to be moved into a new positions.

At the moment we are busy clearing years of muck and dirt from the floor before we can lay concrete.

The Last Section of the Wall

The last section of the wall which is alongside the barn is almost complete and we hope that all it will be completed by Christmas.

The newly seeded grass is beginning to grow and it has been helped by the warm autumn and showers, although today (23/10) was the heaviest rain we have had since the beginning of September.

I have mixed wild flower seed with the grass seed so I hope we have a good mixture of flowers next spring.

Outside of the Wall

At the end of June Russell our stone mason started working on the outside of the wall which has been going up a lot quicker than the inside despite the inclement weather this summer.

Steps will be built from the door which we hope will complete the design. We had to angle the corner of the wall due to the stream being so close.

Walled Garden Finished Inside

The walled garden has been completed in stone on the inside, which now leaves Russell to spend the summer working on the outside of the wall. He is working on the stream side first as this is the most difficult as we have had several weeks with dry weather and the ground is firm enough for him to bring his tractor and trailer to the edge of the stream. He is working just behind the door in the corner of the new wall which you can see in the photo. The drains have been laid and the area has been covered with small stones ready for the membrane which will be laid all over the riding arena before the sand. The surface material has been ordered and is due to be delivered at the end of June. We have bought our surface from Martin Collins who is well known for his products and we have chosen Activ-Track which is a sand and wax mix.