When I started to write a blog last week, I struggled to think of any significant things that we had achieved in the preceding 7 days. We certainly hadn’t been idle, but there was so little I could recall I decided not to post anything.
What we definitely didn’t achieve was to get any grass seed on the back lawn. The unusually dry weather has continued and we didn’t think it sensible to sow seed which would have a limited chance of germinating and probably just become bird food. While we could have watered manually I never feel it is as effective as rainfall, and with the size of the lawn being as it is, I couldn’t water all of it without stepping on some areas and damaging any new shoots.
Sadly, while it has remained dry, our tiler has not been back to progress the terrace – again. However, we now have a major deadline as something big is happening in a few weeks which will give the project a major leap forward. We are hoping our tiler is able to complete her work by then.
This week I have managed to complete a few tasks that I am able to recall – and they have made a bit of difference. One was something I’d hoped to begin last year, the other was a continuation of something I’d started last year.
The first was giving Priory’s garden furniture some much needed TLC.
Some guests we had staying in Priory at the start of last summer used a couple of the sun loungers on the terrace. We had bought these wooden loungers from a well-known Swedish furniture store in 2015 and they have proven a great investment as they are extremely hard-wearing. However, when our guests used them I saw that the stain was looking a bit worse for wear and they were at a point of needing some attention.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to maintain them last year so I started on Monday. A bit of sanding, white spiriting and re-staining has made a huge difference and they now look like new. Priory’s were in by far the worst state of the other gîtes’ loungers but as they look so good I will now find time to do them all – 4 down, 12 to go!
However, once Priory’s loungers had been done, the table and chairs and BBQ items looked tired in comparison – so I decided to do those too.
The BBQ items came from the same Swedish store and are the same range as the loungers which sadly they have discontinued and replaced by things which look much more flimsy. I was able to sand these and use the same Swedish-store-supplied stain (now also irritatingly discontinued) to also make them look like new.
The table and chairs we bought more recently and I had managed to give the table a coat of oil a couple of years ago but never the chairs, although they get stored under cover over the winter so were still in a pretty good state but a new coat of oil on all of them has made them look great and provided protection for the next year.
It is my intention to try and get in the habit of re-oiling / staining at the start of each season to prolong their life. We saw the shop where we bought the table and chairs still sells the same ones each spring, the price has now almost doubled so we’ll try and keep this one as long as we can! I just need to finish all of the big projects to give me the time to get into that annual habit …
The second task was to complete a third gabion at the base of our eastern talus on Hent Gorreker. Last October we bought 3 gabions to protect the talus where it was at greatest risk of collapse but I only managed to put 2 in place. The third has been stored in our boot room over the winter while it was too wet to work in the ditch without creating a quagmire underfoot.
Now the ground is drier and we need to clear the boot room for the coming season, it was the perfect time to install the third gabion. These gabions have multiple advantages. Primarily they have reinforced the talus and removed the risk of them collapsing, they have allowed me to use up some of the huge amounts of slate and rock we have been collecting as part of the pool project and lawn preparation, and they will provide me with a stable base to stand on when I cut the hedge – which also needs doing again soon!
The finished gabion looks great but has unfortunately highlighted that the second I filled isn’t totally upright. In the future we may look at getting a couple more as the next part of the talus is also bulging where an old tree stood but we hope it won’t collapse for a while yet.
Activities for next week are, as ever, weather dependent although there are lots more loungers to stain and hedges to be cut, and we welcomed Dave’s uncle and aunt back with us yesterday so there should be a number of fun-based activities too.
Salut.