Coast to Coast

 Walking towards Merton

 The sign says it all

Friday 24th August Had a call from our friends on Thursday night stating we are on the motorway but think we have not locked the door can you check it for us? trouble was I was sat down in the comfy chair with a glass by hand with too much been drunk to go out in the car. Said to Ros will check house on Friday & have a change of walk on Tarka Trail. Thankfully everything was locked up & their friend Emma who has animals close by was around the place & asking us what we were doing here! so they have got good neighbour hood watch which these days is essential with farm burglaries on the increase especially in the south west. The coast to coast walk is just outside Merton a small village on the A386 weather was a little cloudy & not good light for a mobile camera photo but it was humid day & Beau enjoyed the change of scenery.

The reason I have attached the photo of me in my suit at our god daughters wedding in Worcester someone said to me the other day not seen you for years & only see a small photo on Facebook or Twitter so I have attached a rare photo of me in a suit! these days with all the work I have been doing in the meadow it is normally shorts & tee-shirts with safety boots ha ha. I was telling Ros to push the chrome button on Nikon D60 when the photo was taken so not the best photo but did manage to take some nice photos of the Bride & Groom on their big day.

Slab Laying Completed

Thursday August 23rd Woke feeling very tired but really did want to finish off laying the last slabs so pushed hard today only because the weather forecast for Friday is heavy rain all day. From Monday 20th with preparing the ground as well I have laid 85 slabs. Not only was it laying the slabs on cement but also having to rake up the pea gravel & lots of large mixes in the cement mixer. Just as I finished did have a downpour which has made the slabs & gravel look good even though I say it myself. Did make myself a wooden jig to make sure the spaces were the same all the way up Ros is so pleased with me & seeing it all complete makes all the hard work worthwhile especially saving money doing all the work myself.
Next job on the list is finishing off the decking outside summer house & fix the balustrades but that will be after a full  Bank Holiday rest to recharge the body batteries & a tune around the ham bands well life is not all about keep working!

Slab Laying

 About to start the work outside workshop/greenhouse

 Job completed

Beau inspecting my work

Wednesday 22nd August Said to Ros on Monday before I go any further with the decking outside summer house I need to move the slabs so I might as well get them laid! I had already knocked up some of the tarmac which Ros hated outside workshop/greenhouse. On Monday after digging up grass & fixing a gravel board as an edge to the slabs & having to modify the co-ax cables for my ham aerials in the end managed to lay 25 slabs. Tuesday knocked up the remainder of tarmac picked up cement from builders merchant & a visit to the recycle centre with garden rubbish. At the end of day managed to complete the job & Ros is thrilled with the finish which makes me happy. It really was a boggy area during the winter months getting into greenhouse so now it looks a lot better & maintenance free!

Today is Wednesday thought I would start laying slabs up the centre garden path which really is difficult to walk in with the gravel being so deep & was like walking in treacle. Had enough sand & cement to lay a few slabs before my other materials arrived had a few April showers in August! but pleased to see the end of materials in the garden! After lunch cut the grass & did a general tidy up & materials arrived so got that in from front drive then it was a bath & now sat with a cold lager.

Beau Video

I saw my twitter friends Tim & Julie upload a video with still photos from there holiday & thought what a great idea.
So here is my version showing our rescued doggie Beau from seeing him in the kitchen at Malvern to now living as a salty sea dog in North Devon. Hope you enjoy it was fun to do.

Foraging on the beach

 What a location for cricket match

 Another view with Appledore in background

 On Instow beach with Beau

View over to Crow Point lighthouse

Both fancied a relaxing day off so it was a walk on what we call the 2nd beach near Instow we have to walk past the cricket club could not resist taking a few photos with the stunning location as there was a game being played on a Thursday! Been talking to my good friend John M0JKL who is a fellow radio ham & vegetarian & he told me had been to a wedding reception & had walnut lasagne which he said was delicious so is was a search on Google & found a recipe. With a few items required it was a shop at Marshford Organics in Northam. Ros also said think will have a forage for sea cabbage on our beach walk as a side vegetable to go with the lasagne will also have home grown runner & broad beans.  

Yet another swimming pond update

This is how the swimming pond is looking at the moment. The stone wall sides make the pond look a lot softer to than a harsh looking pool. Today Monday 13th August I have topped the stone wall with slate & stone & shells from the beach. You can see the reed bed is in & the water looks a little dark but since the heavy down pour over the weekend it is clear & we have both had a swim in it! still need another 2ft of water  to clear the reed bed & once the pond is full it really should be clear clean rain water with the help of a submersible pump. The decking outside the summerhouse has not been fixed yet have to put in some electric wires for the outside lighting also fixing solar lights as well.

Another update on swimming pond

Few more photos on different stages of the swimming pond which is also showing the new summerhouse & the raised veg beds. Board walk fixed & rose trellis & brick wall sides to the pond.

Starting the Swimming Pond

 Hole dug out

 Should be 6ft deep!

 Was done with large digger!

 Footing's in

Beau our doggie checking my brickwork

Monday 13th August Do keep saying it because this is a new blog you may have seen the photos before but wanted to show the swimming pond project from the start. Been asked many times why a swimming pond? most Friday evenings we like to watch Gardeners World on BBC1 & we saw Alys Flower diving into an ex swimming pool which had been converted with a reed bed to purify the water naturally. Last week I read an excellent article in The English Garden magazine all about swimming ponds. The natural swimming pond  was first introduced into the UK at the RHS Hampton Court Flower show in 2001 still relatively new idea in the UK but they are well known & extremely popular in Germany, France Switzerland & Austria! The pond is made up of two main components the swimming area & the regeneration zone, separated by an internal wall. The regeneration zone contains plants to purify the water. There are lots of professional company's around & the one which comes to mind is http://www.naturalswimmingpools.com/ mine is a DIY version & a lot cheaper! on saying that if I knew how much the project would have cost maybe would have thought twice but as you see other photos it has been all worth it!!

How it looks like now

Been interesting going through photos & seeing all the hard work I have been doing over the last 4 years. it really does look different when we purchased it. Because the photo above was taken last year the middle of the grass is this year our wild flower part of the meadow.

Today did two NGS open gardens at Moretonhampstead just past Chagford which is a lovely village to visit the stunning gardens are on the slopes of Dartmoor National Park & in sunshine. Drove back to thunder & pouring with rain. 

How it was

 An ex cabbage patch

Rotten window frames in greenhouse

Welcome to my New Blog.

If you know me & I expect you do if you have arrived at the new blog & used to follow my old blog. I tried my hardest to reinstate my old blog but with no joy did set up a wordpress blog but really did not get on with it. So came back to Blogger which is easy to use.

I thought I would start this one off with a few memories of what the 1/2 acre meadow looked like before I started all the hard DIY work.