As we continue to tackle the myriad of tasks to repair, reclaim, renovate our house, it is sometimes beneficial to reflect on a little success.

One of the urgent tasks we faced was to construct a new chicken run.   Ideally we wanted it down at the bottom of one of the fields away from the house.   But we are a long way from creating a decent access to that field and I felt we needed it nearer.   Shivs wanted a vegetable garden and an overgrown area behind the workshops needed sorting.

A mound of nettles had at one time probably been a compost heap, but it was mixed with old builders sacks and general rubbish.   The ground was a bit soft, but we set to and cleared it.   An incoming power line runs to the pole on the left and then down to the workshop and the area in the foreground was lawned to the left and grassed over gravel path on the right.   The gravel courtyard had originally lead round the back of the garden to the menage, but years of neglect had seen it grow over… clearing it was not easy.

We needed to create a raised vegetable garden and, after a false start of making it too big, we formed a U shape.   All the old grass and weeds were removed, soil dug over and broken up.   Compost was mixed in and we were ready for planting.