Secret Steps Garden Project!

Pam & Chris go Shopping for Stone - Again!

Site of secret steps project

Well honestly!  I ask you - how long after open gardens could I last before the next new garden project?  Answer - exactly 5 days!!  It was like this:  Chris P. and I were sculpting the Yew hedge by the mirror door and I just thought how brilliant it would be to have a secret set of steps up through the thick dark hedge linking the terrace by the 'front back door' to the stone (formerly grass) steps leading down to the pond. They would be almost completely hidden from view. Chris and Al both thought it was nothing short of genius!! We examined the Yew and found that if we pruned back the branches on 2 trees, we wouldn't need to remove any at all - BONUS! We realised that any pruning needed immediate action in order to maximise recovery time. An hour later and with the help of a pruning saw and my faithful secateurs, we had achieved a large door shaped gap in the Yew hedge. Yew being Yew means that it will grow nice green shoots and in time the bare stems and trunks will be invisible again.

Our shopping trolley!

The next issue was of course materials!  We had nuffink!  Bricks & York stone were out of the question as, on the north side of a wall, they would become dangerously slippery.  Could I do some sleuthing and find Mr. Carter - former supplier of stone with a nice 'grippy' surface and with which the top terrace was built? Yes!  I tracked him down to Far Forest (I always knew I would have made good C.I.D. material!) After a couple of calls; Chris G. and I arranged a 'Shopping Expedition' (do click on the link for this shop!) and went over to Buckridge.  We arrived home with over a ton of beautiful local stone. The only minor drawback with quarrying one's own stone is that it comes covered with a layer of silt. Having just had the drive gravelled, we didn't want to go down the power washing road a second time!  We remembered only too well the morass from last time!  

The world's cleanest stone!

As it was dry, we spent the entire afternoon with wire brushes brushing off the silt from every facet of every piece of almost 1 1/2 tons of stone.  (The photo shows only a fraction of it!) Greater love hath no gardener - or builder!!  Now, we have the world's tidiest & cleanest stack of stone all ready to be built into secret steps.  Better watch this space!

Money can grow on trees!

Just an interesting statistic for an English cottage garden in deepest rural Worcestershire!  This year, Pear Tree Cottage garden has raised a total of 

£2056.38 

for charity.

Another Success Story!

A rainy start to the evening didn't deter visitors coming to our open garden evening which was a great success!  We thank all  our hard working helpers and all those who turned out and supported us. Dave, Di, Eve and Lindy worked so hard setting things up, serving and clearing up afterwards.  It couldn't have been done without them all. A special thank you to Sarah Winton and Theo in their bright yellow Daisy Bus  for their help driving around the area and advertising our event!  When we emptied our NGS tin, the total raised was £632.72!  Chris did an amazing job by putting 3 Roman columns in the Aspen Grove.  They look as if they've been there hundreds of years not 24 hours!  He also did an amazing job of lighting loads of night lights in jam jars and making the garden look its romantic and magical best and taking photos.  It was great to see old friends and colleagues and we congratulate everyone for making  the evening such a resounding success!!  Well done indeed!!  Check out: Chris's photos

Janine & Paul explore Rob's Retreat

Darth Wader Strikes Back!

Chris filling up the pond!

Darth Wader

It was the last Saturday before our last open gardens and a major pond clearance was under way.  Chris was in waders in the deepest part of the pond surrounded by waterlilies when he managed to disturb a wasp's nest in the bank!  Suddenly he was under attack by swarms of furious wasps.  There was a humungus amount of splashing as he made his escape through the water lilies and back on to dry land but not before they stung his arm.  I was despatched to deal with the nest and managed to crawl under the Acer and dispense copious amounts of wasp killing powder in the nest entrance.  The nest was left overnight and today, work recommenced with not a wasp in sight!  

The pond had a thorough tidy and top up and all lights checked. Dave of DSM Electrical Installations fame even turned out on a Bank Holiday weekend to fix the light in the culvert.  What a star!! So........we're nearly ready for tomorrow night.  I did say 'nearly' as we have to set up the conservatory and then hope for dry weather!

Corking champagne!

Having spent the day raking, mowing, tidying, weeding, trimming and strimming - yawn, we tested out - (purely for purposes of evaluation you understand!) a rather fine bottle of English champagne made just up the road and provided by Chris.  It was amazingly delicious and as it was made in such small quantities, it didn't even have a label.  Anyway it was quite the most perfect end to a busy and tiring day in the garden.  Even the sunset didn't let us down! 

New gravel for the drive

2 days to go before our open garden evening and 4 tons of gravel is dropped on the drive.  Thanks to expert tipping by Rob Thomas (one of Chris G's bonsai chums!), raking wasn't so very laborious although all 3 of us took turns.  I mostly raked round in circles!  Chris did the best job although I was OK in the small tricky areas by the wall!  It did look a whole lot better and, we have to hand it to he who decreed 4 tons was the amount needed!  ( I was tempted to ring and say it was not nearly enough!)  4 tons actually was the exact amount required for about a 1- 1 1/2 inch top up! Oh to have brains!!

The Demise of Henny Penny

The late Miss Henny Penny

It's with a heavy heart that I have to report the sad death of Henny Penny.  She was found unwell yesterday and had picked up a respiratory condition.  She died overnight and had even laid an egg prior to departing this world - gulp!  Surprising that such a healthy, weighty chicken could be overwhelmed so very quickly. Now our little flock is down to 4.  We won't replace her immediately as we know from experience that the remaining four would terrorize a new 'intruder'.  We'll wait until we can home a minimum of 2 and gradually introduce them as before.

In my view, Henny Penny was the most beautiful of the five and also the shyest and least arrogant.  We will miss her super dark brown eggs!