Birthday sweet chestnut tree

So today was a day of finishing off stuff as the weather was so nice! It was my birthday last week and I received lots of money from my relatives so we popped up to Castle Howard garden centre and I bought a sweet chestnut tree. Unfortunately i was really ill last week with D&V so wasn't up to much today but John managed to get it planted this morning and what a splendid tree it is!!

We also had to finish the base for the bigger shed!! I had previously managed to clear the space of crap but I couldn't manage the massive roots from a nearby tree which plagued the site. It took John ages to use the pick axe to expose them and then between us using brute force (and ignorance) we managed to get rid of them.

I am not sure the base is very level but as we will need an army to shift the shed into position anyway we can work on it! At least the drive is almost empty of sacks but we do have half ton of hardcore left over so ideas of what to do with it would be nice!!

Trees!!

As part of the ridiculous planning rules from RDC we have to show a 'deliniation' of the garden to the wild meadow! Well following the efforts of Mr R here they are:- These are apple and plum trees - we know there's only a small number yet but its work in progress and depends entirely on finances!

Part 2 of Tannery Trail

Well we are becoming familiar with shovelling etc. following part 1 of Tannery Trail. Yet again a number of hours and the moving of tons of earth, hardcore and cobbles has resulted in the final part of the trail being completed.

Next stop a rockery! This was Mrs R's bright idea as she thought it looked unsightly at the start of the trail. We visited a garden centre in town and following much scrtching of heads and discussions with any 'garden expert' we could find we purchased a few sets of rockery plants (for the life of me I can't actually remeber their names!!) Anyhow here it is being looked after by Mr Frog (another one of Mrs R's ideas!!!

The Start of Tannery Trail

So as we have moved the small shed we need to get a path to it and then continue that to the bigger shed (when we eventually move it!!) We started the digging and shovelling and clearing of earth at 1000hrs and 5hours later we had made this:-

This is the start of Tannery Trail! Blinking hard work!

Phase 1 shed moving...!

So we have begun to make the paddock look like a garden. First things first is we need to move the sheds off the drive and we have changed our minds on having a big bit of hard standing. We have decided to have a pebble path leading from the drive to both sheds. Easy peasy I hear you shout! Well not really! Mr R decided to read up on 'how to make the best path' and then went ahead ordering hardcore, pebbles, concrete slabs and bits of planking from Jewsons! As all of this was delivered by crane in 1 ton bags our drive resembles a building site!!

Anyway we set about digging the part for the first smaller shed - many hours later Mr R proudly showed off his 4x3 square section of concrete slabs and then decided to try to move the shed!

This was so heavy it was unreal but we cleverly overcame and adapted and by using old circular fence posts we managed to roll the shed to the appropriate place! It fitted perfectly but had taken virtually the whole day! God knows what we will have to do for the bigger shed and path.

WE GOT IT...!!

Ok so the 3rd planning meeting with Ryedale District Council's planning committee was held last night! Mr R is away on business so I was subjected to present to the committee about our concerns on the caveats the planners had imposed on us as part of their approval to our plans! Basically we had to reduce the domestic curtiledge and remove it from the application as we didn't need planning to put up trees and plant wild flowers (something they told us we DID need when we called them 4 months ago!) We duly resubmitted our plans and then the planners came back imposing that we seperate the wild meadow / orchard with a boundary ie: hedge or fence and had to get their permission to do this!! Needless to say this wasn't acceptable to us and I insisted on clarity to this condition and a conversation with the committee members ensued! The long shot is that we have to 'deliniate' the area in some way and by having grass and trees rather then a mowed lawn this would be enough to make it look different!! Planning was eventually granted - Thank goodness! Watch this space for future devlopments!

What we want our wild garden to look like!

On our jolly's in the lakes we went to Lowther Castle and Gardens near Penrith. John went there last year as it had just opened to the public despite looking like mud and rubble everywhere! Anyway as we walked into the gardens the wild meadows were in full bloom...

Now this is what we want our wild garden to look like!!!

We are still waiting...

Well I know it has been a while since we blogged - June in fact! We did go to said planning meeting in July and sat for 2 long sweaty hours in the council chambers until it was our turn. We were number 16 on the long list of planning discussions and took our Parish Council and a neighbour to give the 3 minutes of comment allowed! (and they actually time it using a large stopclock!)After much debate and comment from the councillors and the planning officer it was decided that the committee wanted a site visit before making any decision! PLEASE!!!!!! So on August 7th a bunch of councillors appeared on our drive and then walked around the land, neighbours gardens and the village! All a little sad really! Needless to say their comments would go back to the NEXT planning meeting on Aug 21st! Therefore we decided to go away to the lakes for some well deserved R&R in our motorhome leaving the planning meeting to go ahead without us! Upshot of all this is that the decision has now been deferred AGAIN and we have to supply the committee with some more detailed plans of what we intend to do with the land! Isn't the world of local planning a joy??

Planning has gone in!!

Well planning permission has now gone to Ryedale District Council for the change of use!! In the meantime we are having to maintain the whole area as it now looks like a jungle! John wants a sit on mower however finances won't stretch that far so we are using an industrial strength petrol strimmer. The trouble is the strimmer is quite heavy and the 'grass' is thick and full of bugs! We have just spent the last 3 hours trying to clear the area but alas have run out of steam! I even started using our small electric mower and electric strimmer but the electric lead and extension are too short and I need a new strimmer cable! John has vibration fingers and is covered in grass and bug bites! Planning is well underway and we have to wait until 13th July now before we will know if we have been given permission! Lets hope the neighbours, parish and the planners all accept our plans! Fingers crossed!?

Preparing for planning

Well we are having to get planning permission to change the paddock (agricultural land) to a garden which is really frustrating. So we set too today in between the torrential downpours, with our new industrial brush cutter and strimmer to cut down the overgrown weeds and then pulled out 130 foot of old barbed wire fence with 15 old rotten wooden fence posts!! This was particularly difficult as some of the wire was hidden in undergrowth but we did it! Not sure either of us will be able to move tomorrow! As you will see on the picture we are proposing to have an area of hard standing which will be an extension to our drive and then hopefully we can move the sheds off the drive. Obviously the wall will need to come down too but we will need planning permission for that too!! GOD KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE DON'T GET PLANNING PERMISSION!! Watch this space!

One man and his 'garden'!

So this is it! We are told it is 0.6 of an acre but it feels much bigger. What do we know though! The house at the bottom of the picture is ours so you see what we are playing with.





John decided he wanted to set to and see what it felt like under foot so hence the digging! Bless him - I think he feels he is the new Alan Titchmarsh! Don't worry he didn't get very far.

We are Land owners!

Today we finally completed the purchase of approximately 1 acre of paddock land to the rear of our house. We are going to turn this into a dream garden, the likes of which the RHS will swoon to see! Actually, as I have the horticultural skills of a house brick and Julie is the Harold Shipman of the plant world, things might not go quite to plan! We're going to record our highlights, low lights, successes and failures as we move through the life cycyle of a garden, sharing the fun times and the disasters with anyone who is interested.

First things first, we have to invest in some manly bits of gardening equipment, namely a brush cutter(which Julie thought was something foxes used for manicures)and a lawn mower (I of course insist on a sit on, but she who must be obeyed has other ideas!). Any tips, hints or suggestions before I spend a fortune this weekend would be most welcome.

We'll take lots of photos (once the rain has stopped)and will try and keep as up to date as possible. One of our first tasks is to re-build a section of classic Yorkshire dry stone wall - how difficult can that be!

I think this is going to be the start of something big......