Progress continues ...

Harvey planted the trees. The espalier fruit trees are two varieties of apple and one plum, in a nice sunny spot.
I've planted the side bed with Pheasant's tail grass, Lady's Mantle and Alliums. I've put 12 Lavender plants under the fruit trees to attract the bees - bit stiff now but worth it!


Last building job



Undercoat



The plum tree

... and the apple trees go in

Just two weeks later they look so beautiful!



in blossom, lavender ready to attract our neighbour Caroline's bees



The Birch tree is happy : )

Progress!

Ooooh, coming together now! Paving looks very 'smart', not like us at all!
The link between the house and the garage looks very heavy without plants to soften it, hmmm, pondering on that, but pretty sure we'll plant espalier fruit trees - being cooking obsessed and loving jam making SO much : )
Happiest bit so far, bought our beautiful tree for the front, a birch (Betula) called Fetisowii - sounds like a pagan festival - see link below

Finishing touches



Our bollards remained intact!

Don't you just love it?







          Fetisowii will look lovely

Here are some birch myths

Birch has protective powers, wear a sprig of birch to keep you safe from misfortune.

A bough from the birch tree prevents evil spirits from entering your home if hung over your doorway.

Growing the tree in your yard [garden] will help ward off wicked fairies and demons because they dislike it's magical properties. This is also why parents hung a sprig of birch over a baby's cradle.

Look out Carlotta and Rebecca ...Young girls were struck lightly with a bundle of birch twigs. The bundles were decorated with strips of ribbon and silk. It was believed that this would keep them safe from vermin, flies and back trouble for an entire year. And in a BIG birthday year ...On other holy days, adults struck each other to help promote youthfulness - good idea for a party?


The best strategy to keep witches out of your house is to plant a birch tree beside your front door. Any witch that tries to enter your house will have to count every leaf before they can enter.

OK, fruit trees next .....

 

Paving starts

Couldn't face the mess of gravel so we chose some paving. The travellers down our road have never been so chatty and have all expressed their approval ... good choice!

Can you see where our tree is going to go?



How to find a tradesman ...

When I realised that after 3 years I probably could afford to do the job I had to find somebody to do it. I stumbled upon a really good website called Rated People - customers describe their jobs and click 'submit'; local trades people then offer to come and quote (max 3) and you can read feedback from previous customers. Couldn't be easier!

We chose Harvey, partly because he was so knowledgeable and also because his references on the website were just great harvey.fielding@ntlworld.com

Here's Harvey (left) with his colleague Rob 'the Builder' - coffee, milk NO sugar, home-baking appreciated!

Early days, stripping the concrete

The hardcore arrives



Let it begin!

Thanks to my friend and fellow  book club member, Christine, we have plans to smarten up the front of our house. She showed us things we just hadn't seen. We hadn't noticed that our garage door had never been painted, for instance! Had noticed the cracked concrete and weeks though!

Here are the plans.

 

The clever thing here is the distraction of the eye from the flats and railway line behind us, and adding a visual link from the garage to the house.

We're going to have a tree at the front - hooray! We've looked at a Birch called Elegantissima but we are smitten with a Himalayn birch - with a pure white trunk.

And some more 'before' photos