landscaping summer 2014

The waste from the old front of the house floor is transformed into steps, a long bank with shrubs and young tree ... well done Tracey, great work.

Wonderful, wonderful gates

Briefly, some praise for our new gates ... remotely operated, wide and sliding for the cars and one for people and dogs ... so very good to see the back of the old wire fence 'arrangement'!   Posh postbox as well ...  at least it feels that way as this one opens from both sides.  

and ( as well as polishing walls, building more walls, and putting up gateside lighting) Tracey and Paul have been digging out for a new path down the side of the house ...

Its 

 

Its gardening weather here, warm and sunny, so more pics later when we've done with the mowing, strimming, pruning and weeding.

The new floor: it is what it is

I promised some time ago to post some pics of the newly tiled floor  ... the title to this post says it all! We've just about accepted that it is what it is and not what we wanted but, hey, at least we negotiated a substanital discount off the original invoice.

Tracey is already at work making repairs  -what a blessing she is so good at tiling. 


The front gate is also in progress, its being made off site and will need some digging etc. to install. Oh, how I will not miss that unwieldy stretch of wire we have at the moment.

Ideas for shape and size of the sofas in the family room are being discussed and the oak table we bought the first year we moved in looks just great.  And do we want curtains, blinds - no-one can decide.

Progess, real progress.

Winter 2013

I'll get around to some pics of the new floor soon, but in the meantime my terrace now has railings

 

...  a great place to catch the sun in winter or the shade in summer.

The Hot Tub has arrived

I am not joking, we now have a beautiful hot tub in the garden ready for days when its good to warm up rather then use the pool to cool down!

Its now fully installed, full of water and well covered until needed, hopefully not too soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the local bees are flocking to the hen run for drinking water ... we can't decide if hens can be stung but we are being very careful! 

 

And as you can see Ali still loves her private paddling pool.

Getting ready for the new floor

We've been busy these last few days (and more days will be needed yet) clearing the front of the house for the new floor in what will be the kitchen/family-room/hall. The burner, soon to be tucked away somewhere safe for a few weeks, looks a little lonely now most of the temporary units have been moved.

Up on the first floor my terrace now has plants -agaves, succulents and a number of those ubiquitous spider plants that just seem to go on and on - all capable of surviving in the heat and tolerating only the occasional spot of attention. The handrail is awaited ... so for the moment we keep away from the edge.

Writing this on another sunny and very warm evening  -the tomatoes and figs are ripening, our new hens seem very happy although not all are laying at the moment and the cockerel is slowly finding his voice.

2103 Spring and Summer ... some changes

A brief post to catch up with progress here ... mostly these days the changes are small and subtle. Paul has done lots of work on the electrics, James' room is very nearly finished and the well has been restored.

In contrast, and in preparation for the not small and will be obvious work to replace the floor at the front of the house, due to start  in September, Tracey has fitted a door at the end of the hallway.  Seen here from Paul and Tracey's living room, this door was in our Northleach house once upon another time, so great upcycling. 

The garden has acquired inrernal fences to give the dogs lots of room to play in, and to keep them away from the cats, veg beds and hens.

 

 and further down is the pool and barbecue  - essential parts of this heatwave summer.