New Art Table

I bought this little gem on Ebay and gave it a makeover with chalk paint. It's just the right size to put in the corner of the bedroom where I can escape and concentrate on my work.

Love this old secretary desk

5 little drawers and 8 larger drawers

Side View

Lovely Detail

Painted Up and Ready for Work

Summer Solstice Painting

Finishing the Leftover Turf

Lee used up the rest of the turf by laying this on the very worn out pathway by the Beech Hedge. It was also on a slope so we've tried to level it out a bit. The area wasn't prepared as much as the Vegetable patch but fingers crossed, breaking and raking the soil a bit will be enough to get it going. The slabs have been lifted from the main lawn area and placed here where the soil gets a bit compacted in the Winter.

What a difference, so glad we started to take photos of our progress.

Before (Springtime)

After (Summertime)

The Last Border !!!

Another Border full of Crocosmia and Geraniums. I really like Crocosmia but not everywhere. I have saved some for planting at the Side of the house at the front and the rest has gone to good homes.

So this is what the border looked like before I dug it out. As always mum has been helping and kept me going :)

More Crocosmia and Geraniums

Very Full and Messy and Plants Overcrowded

Border extended round to path

and more Geraniums to the Back

Little Orchard Update #1

The Magnolia tree is out of it's pot with a little brute force from Lee. John the Gargoyle is guarding the patch and the little Robin likes to perch on his head. Dividing fence is down which opens it up a lot. Weed surpressing membrane is down and wood bark has been spread. I've bought a Cherry Tree and my favourite Eating Apple 'Egremont Russet'. So hopefully we can just leave this patch until we are ready to trim the hedge. We now have 9 Fruit Trees, 7 Fruit Bushes, a Magnolia and Little Weeping Cherry. I'm not sure what the bushes are, the leaves are just coming out but I think we have a Gooseberry Bush and some Blackcurrants.

Half Done, then I ran out of bark

Here we go again

All Done

Edges left clear for wood border

Left Side

Right Side

Before Left

Before Right

After

A Lick of Paint

We're carrying on the Black and White colour scheme and what a difference a bit of paint makes. Lee painted the Garage and Garden Shed and made a Cover for the Logs. I think we are doing well as we've only been here 3 months.

Blue and White Garage

Smart Black and White Garage

This old picture shows some of the trellis around the Little Orchard. We've managed to save some of it and are up-cycling the little fences and I need to save all the climbers that were rambling along them.

There are lots of little sections in this garden which is really nice. The Log Store is just between the greenhouse and garage under the pine trees.

Might have to plant some of the clematis and roses in that border at the front ... wonder if Lee will put up some of the trellis there.

Lovely Little Log Store

Caravan Patch

Slowly making progress on the patch by the side of the caravan. This has been pretty hard going. The ground is very gravelly and full of stones but I've managed to clear it of weeds ready for plants. So glad we brought some of our plants from Birmingham. Hopefully they will all take and we will have a nice border this Summer. At the moment I'm making do with our pot plants and existing plants from the new garden. Saving little primroses from all over the garden is not the most exciting of jobs but I'm after low maintenance ground cover that will look pretty in Spring. Lee has started making a new fence after the wind demolished the existing one.

Plants from Birmingham

The start of planting up

Plants in this border include: Hawthorn Tree, Buddleia, Holly Tree, Hydrangea, Roses, Peasants Bush, Winter Camelia, Red Robin, Ferns, Lavender, Lupins, Roses, Foxgloves, Daffodils and Primroses. I think this border is going to be very full once it has grown.

Lee's fence made from little fences

Primroses planted up to here

More Primroses

Almost there.

Boiler Broke

Our first major disaster. Well second really, as we already had the boiler men around to sort out the electrics on the boiler so that the timer worked, and also remove some radiator pipes that were just sticking out of the floor in the hallway. Anyway the floor flooded and we had to replace the boiler. This led to us having to put new panels up in the conservatory to cover the new pipes and filter. An excellent opportunity to strip and repaint the wall as some of the wallpaper was peeling away anyway. This is what it looked like before.

Peeling Wallpaper

Not keen on shelving

Exposed Pipework

New Panels & Paint Job

Dog Supervisor