At the end of last week’s blog, I said that the excessive heat had passed and we were forecast to have some more Breton weather that should allow me to make more progress than I had in the previous few weeks.
Thankfully, that turned out to be the case and on the drier days I was able to get outside.
My focus had been to revisit areas that had been neglected for some time (which ones I hear you ask?!) and had got to the point of needing some TLC.
The first was the rear of our chambre d’hôte, Stable B&B, which has never consistently received the love it needs to keep it cleared. The space was extremely overgrown when we arrived and the talus (wall) between it and Hent Gorreker, the road we are situated on, had some, excessively, tall trees that should have been hedging but which had never been trimmed.
We took some time early on to clear through and tame that corner of the garden, partly because we were fearful that with a decent blow, some of the trees would come crashing down and through the, then very old, roof.
Once the large hedging trees has been cut down to size, we also planted some lonicera on top of the talus to begin to form a proper hedge that would provide privacy to the space behind Stable which would, at some point in the future, become a private hidden terrace. These 3 photos are after the first clearance almost a decade ago.
Needless to say, we have never managed to get to the point that the terrace was built (it will sometime!) and what I had cleared out started to re-grow and the space became an inaccessible jungle again.
This wouldn’t have been too much of a problem itself but, in the last few months we had seen that some of the bramble and ivy in that jungle was starting to grow into, between and out of the new slates that were part of the new roof we had spent a lot of money on in 2023.
We were fearful that the roots and stems of the ivy and bramble would cause significant damage if allowed to grow unchecked both to the new roof but also to the slate wall as the stems and roots grew in behind the stones and got thicker. That, and with signs of some new self-set sycamores (which do seem to grow like weeds) becoming larger and better established, we made the decision to clear the space again.
As the hedge we had planted grew I did give it an annual cut at the front to keep it looking acceptable but, not being able to access it from behind, I had no idea of how that was growing and the height was also getting out of control.
As I cleared my way to the back it was obvious that having been denied any light by the brambles, the lonicera and hedging hadn’t benefitted as all the growth that used to be there had died back. This is disappointing, if not surprising, as it means the hedge will be quite thin for a couple of years. However, lonicera is a pretty robust plant and it will regrow relatively quickly so I have no doubt that it will make for a decent hedge again quite quickly.
I have managed 3 days of clearing behind Stable when the weather allowed but it needs a few more to clear it back as much as I want and, ideally, create some sort of access for me to get a mower in so I can keep it clear and at least create a grass terrace before we’re able to do something more solid.
One other day was spent doing a similar thing to the rear of Gite Granary. Having, finally, cleared the Ciáran wood pile in April and tamed the griselinia in the last couple of weeks, the parking space to the rear of Granary was beginning to look as it should again.
However, it was obvious that ivy had established itself there too and was beginning to climb all along the length of the rear wall where it was also growing into the spaces between the slate. The base of the wall was also beginning to be re-wilded by self-set bramble, holly and ferns and was not looking very cared for.
When working behind Stable, I found a reasonably effective technique for stripping the ivy and ivy roots off the slates, so I did the same behind Granary before we had guests arrive on Friday.
I didn’t get a chance to take a better picture of the cleared wall but it has made a big difference and looks more loved! I will continue with some weeding and add a couple of trailers of new gravel in the next couple of weeks as the trench I had to dig across the space for Priory’s power cable a few years ago has dipped as the soil has become compacted.
What became obvious working on Stable and Granary’s walls is that both would benefit from some new lime mortar pointing sometime in the next few years – something else to add to the list …
Next week is due to start damp but then improve so my focus will continue to be outside where I hope to be able to scratch slightly deeper into the surface of everything that needs to be done!!
Salut.