Much of this week’s blog may sound similar to last week. The forecast was pretty much the same although turned out to be drier and brighter.
Much of the work we completed was also similar and, thankfully, as I had hoped in last week’s blog, I did manage to complete a couple of tasks I’d begun (well, almost!)
Monday was dry and warm, as the previous week, so I continued the hedge cutting along our drive. I cut the privet on the Granary garden side and continued along the whole length of the hedge. It looks good now but it is clear that much of the privet is already starting to suffer from the honey fungus so doesn’t have long before it’s dead.
Thankfully, all the griselinia we have planted along the length of the hedge which will eventually replace the privet seems to have survived and is becoming established although isn’t yet large enough to be seen in these photos!
While I haven’t managed to move onto another hedge (and they all need doing) that’s one part of the job complete. The other was the second gabion which I started last week and managed to fill and put the lid on. What I haven’t managed to do is completely back fill behind with gravel which I did for the first one so that will roll onto next week.
One of the ‘problems’ I admit that I have is starting new projects before completing others – and there are lots of projects to be done. One thing I said in last week’s blog was that we had an idea to improve the area by the drive and provide more soil for the hedge but it may be a long way off.
However, having finally found someone who could provide a trailer of top soil we took a delivery late on Tuesday night. He arrived after dark with a large tractor and trailer which was only a few centimetres narrower than the entrance to the drive. However, he expertly and very impressively, managed to reverse into and down the drive causing only the most minor of damage to deposit the soil where I have recently been clearing.
This soil is what we need to do a couple of those jobs that were going to be some way off. They need to be done sooner now to clear the drive before the season gets busy again!
The pool house continues to make progress but last week was even slower than usual. The charpentier was here for a few hours and started on the volige (horizontal planking attached to the frame already constructed) but stopped so the maçon could come and concrete the tops of the gables.
The concreting took the best part of a day but the charpentier didn’t reappear and, as tomorrow is a public holiday, we don’t expect him back until Tuesday. We have at least had confirmation that the slates are being delivered on Tuesday too so perhaps we will see some progress.
I almost made more progress on the pool house than our artisans! One thing I had to do was build a small housing to rectify a problem caused by our electrician. Before the concrete slab was laid some weeks ago, we discussed with the electrician where we wanted the sockets in the building so they could lay the cabling before the concrete.
Unfortunately, when they prepped the cables and a water pipe, they made a mistake with their measurements so the end sockets, which should have been inside ended up outside the walls. Rather than cut them off I have constructed a box to hide them in so they will still be able to be used.
Having built the box I rendered the end of the pool house. The idea is to have the exterior styling of the pool house as close as possible to the garage and my man shed so everything looks similar. The others have the lower breeze blocks rendered with horizontal cladding above.
I rendered my man shed when I built it in 2019 but really did not enjoy doing so, so I am not looking forward to the pool house. Thankfully we don’t intend to render the whole façade on any side and may just clad the rear of the building so as not to have to render any of that!
However, I didn’t find doing this small end of the building too arduous and am pretty happy with the rustic finish! There is more to do when the roofers have finished and have removed their scaffolding.
Today we have enjoyed perfect autumnal weather and returned to Locmaria Berrien to do the second circuit that is in our walking book. We wouldn’t normally return to the same place so quickly having been here last Sunday but, other then a kilometre or so, the circuit is a different walk and, while we were here last Sunday, we saw a poster for the village Christmas market today which we thought would be good to visit.
The walk was as pleasant as last week with good views, a little more sunshine and brighter autumn colours. The Christmas market was interesting but very small with only a handful of makers. Sadly, we are unlikely to be able to visit as many markets this year as before.
Having tried to take our Sunday strolls where there would be great autumn colour, it is lovely to see that some of the trees and plants we have introduced to Kergudon are starting to look great in the autumn. The cherry trees, wisteria and liquidambars are all looking as good this year as they ever have and hopefully will continue to do so as they get more established (assuming the liquidambars don’t fall victim to the honey fungus). A beech tree also look stunning although, sadly, this in on the list to fell as it will grow far too large where it is.
Next week’s forecast still looks dry, this has to break soon as this is an amazingly long period of decent weather after such a damp summer. We are expecting the roofers back on Tuesday and I have lots of things I can progress – I did say I don’t always finish things before starting another!
Salut.