Wall - Build Finished

At last, Chris & Jason and their diggers have gone leaving us with the finished build as shown below. A big thank you is due to them, especially Chris who did the actual wall building. We believe that the entrance road to the house now looks so much better and we can be sure that nothing is going to collapse in the foreseeable future.


There is some work to do yet to tidy the whole thing up. As can be seen in the photo, there is one section of foliage that is very much higher than the rest. Hopefully, when we have some decent weather, Clive is going to help me level that off as he has done lower down.


The last thing to do is to level and re-seed the side of the road, which, as can be seen, is currently a patch of mud.

Wall - Day Eleven

As can be seen by the latest photo, the end is nigh. Hopefully, tomorrow, Clive and I will sort out some of the top foliage so that is is somewhat neater, with less bracken than now. It will also give me chance to get rid of some of the rubbish that the hedge is made of; for instance, I know that there is a concrete gatepost semi buried that could do with being removed. Chris thinks that they will finish on Wednesday, which will be a relief not only to us but also to all the residents of the Residential Park, who have had to contend with road restrictions and mud for the past three weeks.
Next report tomorrow; the weather is set fair so here's hoping for really good progress.

Wall - Day Ten

Although I took photos yesterday, they were so out of focus that I decided to delay an update until today. Just one photograph because, from the bottom, it is almost impossible to see the difference from the last one. Hopefully, given a bit of a break with the weather, the whole thing should be finished by Wednesday next week.

Wall - Day Eight

On this day, Jason was away fixing his car so Chris worked alone. This was undoubtedly the best for weather that we have had so the working conditions were relatively good. This was also the day when we took delivery of the second, and last, load of stone.


The following photo shows Chris and the small digger taking out some of the vegetation in order to prepare the ground for the next day's building.


So, at the beginning of the next day, this is where we are:

Wall - Day Seven

The latest photos of the wall; this time I have included one from the top, which shows the new build approaching the old. The half way mark has been passed and, if the weather stays good, by the end of this week it should be very close to being finished as far as building is concerned. After that it will be a case of tidying up, reseeding the verge, and rounding off the top.

Wall - Day Six

Another rather damp day has made work on the wall somewhat difficult; the photos were taken in very poor light and have been adjusted for brilliance and contrast so may look a little strange, however they give some idea of the progress made.

Fourteenth of November

14th November is a memorable day because, amongst other happenings, in 1946 Maria was born, in 1948 Prince Charles was born and in 1964 Maria & I were married. We didn't celebrate much this year, just went out for a meal with friends Dot and John. I thought that then and now photos would be appropriate, but unfortunately, trying to get a flash photo of Maria with her eyes open is the next thing to impossibility; John did his best and managed to get this one with one eye open:


Next to our wedding day and a photo taken outside the Sacred Heart Church, Thornton. What happened to all that hair? Maria still has that glorious smile though!

The following photo will be of interest to some of the people who read this, I just hope that they recognise themselves.

Maria and her four brothers:
Left to Right:
Paul, Terry, Maria, Brian, Michael

Wall - Day Five

After a day off for bad weather, excellent progress has been made today as can be seen:




Next report due on Monday evening, always assuming that the weather permits work.

Wall - Day Four

Another good day for Chris and Jason, the results of which can be seen in the two photographs below:




The weather forecast for tomorrow is, shall we say, a little variable; in addition, Chris is by himself so we wait with interest to see what progress can be made, however the wall is looking very good indeed. Next report tomorrow.

Wall - Day Three

Although I have titled this Day 3, it is only the second day of real work so I think that the progress is very good indeed. Today Chris brought along Jason as a labourer to shift stone and earth and retrieve the old stone from the wall. The weather stayed fine so, as can be seen, at the end of the day a substantial wall has appeared.


The weather is set fair for tomorrow, so we hope for similar progress again.

The Wall - Plan 'B'

We have made a decision and are now into Plan B for the wall on the entrance road to Roseveare House. After much soul searching, we have decided that we shall have a granite support wall built; this apparently counts as a Cornish Hedge because the inside is filled with earth and traditionally has a turf top. The following two pictures show the hedge before work started and the progress after Day 1.

It was supposed to be Day 2 today but it has poured down most of the morning so no progress apart from the delivery of 10 tons of granite. The forecast for tomorrow is better and Wednesday is good so we hope for the best.