photos of the first 10 days of ownership


We had negotiated to gain a few metres of width at the back of the plot by having our boundary line, and the dividing fence, go through what was a substantial raised bed, formed by four courses of old railway sleepers. Over a couple of days I reduced the raised bed, clearing the soil onto our plot and chainsawing the sleepers to make a smaller bed, with working clearance for fence construction on our neighbours' side. This work had to be done before the 600mm deep holes for the concrete fenceposts could be dug.


On Tuesday 15 May I had arranged to work with Steve Fricker to cut down the two cherry trees and the eucalyptus which needed to be removed as part of forming the new entrance to the plot, with improved sightlines for motorists along the front walls of our and our neighbours' properties. This photo shows our front boundary at the start of the day.


Here is Steve's chipper, together with the eucalyptus (right of centre) and one of the cherry trees (left of centre) at the start of play.


Before work started, this is a view towards the front of plot, diagonally from next door's entrance.


The cherry trees were both taken down from the ground, but the eucalyptus had grown around the telephone cable leading into Plas Coch Bach, so Steve donned full climbing gear and took it down from the top.


The three trees have now been cleared, leaving in view (from the left) the massive lime tree at the corner of the plot (which has a TPO), the two beech trees in the side hedge, and the small lime which is beyond our plot in the farmer's field. The 25 or so square metres of the entrance (bordered on two sides by the stone walls) will be cleared to the level of our neighbour's driveway and filled with stone - next week.


Looking from front to back of the plot. The stone wall will go, and the hedge will be reduced to a height of 900mm as specified by the planners. The gateway will be formed along the line from the left end of the wall-to-go and the estate agent's sign, so at the front/side corner of the plot. I took a trailerful of woodchip back home for the garden. Next week it will cost us £240 to have the spoil from the entrance taken away, so it was good to save a little money (and recycle the materials) today.

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