A run of good days

Yay for sunshine and HSBC volunteers and dads and friends . 

We did have yet more rain and when I say rain I mean lake makers , but then the sunshine came out and transformed our moods , energy and eased our work  slightly , the theme of the garden has seemed to be do everything 3 times arghhh , but now we move on to planting yay I'm happy now , and to add to the yayness we have had a wonderful group of HSBC volunteers to help for the last few days and they have been brilliant 

Ok more mud but things are starting to take shape

More soil moving , Swale changing , and sticky boots but I finally feel like things are taking shape and glimmers of magic are appearing , the water crumbler barrel is in and looking great it will look fab with the chains hanging down and water flowing . There are nice vistas starting to appear ( with a little imagination) I feel more positive today than I have for ages . And more help is on its way tomorrow , myself dad and Luke have worked really hard today but a team of 5 or six will be better and even 7 on Monday yay that will be brilliant . 

Digging out and filling in

It's been a good few days work at the start of the flower show build , one great big pond , one small and two swales , multiple water levels , structures , rills phew there's a lot to do , Simon and Mike from the WWT have been brilliant at making the ponds and getting the levels right between them , we have moved what feels like mountains out of the ponds then after fitting underlay , box welded liner from Stephens plastics , more underlay , we have moved mountains back in for the planting areas. Dad has been awesome working into the night with David my brother to get the fixings for the roof done in time for the Lorry journey , thank good ness for patient Lorry drivers it took a longtime to load up all the stuff , but it's all here now and soon the groundwork will be done and shiny metal will rise up from the ground . 

Blue skies , mixed emotions and silver linings

It's been hot hot hot , we have gone from what feels like winter to summer in a week , last week was layers of jumpers and coats this week , vests and suntans . Yesterday was a very long tiring day , getting things ready for the galvanise pick up , more frantic welding and grinding and linishing , the highlight was testing out the rain collecting roof water feature it flowed brilliantly down the centre of the crumbler barrel .I started cutting out a decorative panel for the wall depicting dragonfiles and pond plants . Then the galvanising company came to collect the elements . I was frazzled by the end of day so got an early night . Then today things seemed to take a downward turn , the galvanising company rang to say everything needed shotblasting ( which I and they knew ) and said the things would need to go to the shotblasters I was a bit annoyed as we could have got it sent straight to kds where I always go for shotblasting and powdercoating . And then he said the rain collecting roof wouldn't cope well with the galvanising process, rivets would melt and it could warp arrgh . So after some panicking, tears and asking for divine intervention I Rang Kevin at KDS and he said he would pick the items up , shotblast them , and zinc coat the roof and take the rest back for galvanising, I rushed about all day to get the benches, roof legs and wall panels with dad , Andy and Brian done ready to be powder coated tomorrow and set off in my truck with Andy following behind with the panels. on the way back i started to relax about all things silver and black , I took photos for inspiration from the planting at the river banks on the way home

. This started out a very stressful day but ended up ok in the end . Let's see what tomorrow brings 

Heavy metal weekend

Phew it's been a long weekend but so much is happening and getting done . I feel better each and every time something works or comes together . This is by far the biggest and most ambitious build I've undertaken and in someways the most nerve wracking  because I need to rely on other people people's expertise to bring it to fruition. The rain collecter roof is getting there now , the curves have made for some very interesting angles and fixings . Not to mention engineering skills . And with the galvanising deadline being Monday at 1pm we have been putting in the hours to get it done . Andy has been cutting and welding , dad has been doing most things  and masterminding solutions, Brian has been making the table tøp , citing metal and making benches with Andy as well as collecting much needed stuff like materials -wood , metal etc and making wonderful lunches . Luke has been assisting dad with various tasks, Rod helped with woodwork and even dads friend Tom has helped out today . You definitely get more done with more hands . I'm really excited about the benches we are constructing i had been thinking about different options and then today I came up with the solution ,I love the shape and I'm really loving the continuity of materials through the garden too

, the reclaimed bog mats have been a total triumph allbeit a very heavy one , that wood is like iron . I have linished , grinded, cut and lifted more metal in the past few day than ever before ive also not been told I have a mucky face this often before , I'm ready for a shower and a good night sleep ready for tomorrow. 

 

Rain , first day of summer and a happy dad

It's all go and I'm feeling a little manic right now there are a Million things to do , phone calls , emails , visits , still more sourcing , form filling , organising- the list is endless , it has been a freezing week , wind,  rain , cold, more like the first week of winter not summer . Sunday was lovely we visited friends in York drinking cider in the sunshine ( the last day off I will have for quite a while ) then Monday came with the wind and rain . But it's all good because we we're in the shed , I may have mentioned that my dad is truly a brilliant human being and I'm very lucky to have him as mine ( I need to say now my mum is just as wonderful ) not only does he have a farm yard full of wonderful rusty objects I can pilfer and regenerate into new leases of life . He doesn't need the shed until the harvest comes in so we get to take over for a month . As if this wasn't enough he has been working his socks off turning my design into a reality . This is by far my most ambitious project and I'm really excited with how it's panning out so far . There have been so many happy coincidences , perfect fits , and lightbulb moments . One of the best things has been the working out and problem solving getting our Brains working to make the different elements work , especially dad - he loves a challenge and there have been plenty of those . Work has gone great on the circular platform and the water feature for the wing gazebo . Brian has been back and forth picking stuff up like hard wood bog mats from Marwoods , and tools etc . The other day we went to the most amazing stone yard come reclaim yard come landscaping centre Bannolds in Fen Drayton Huntingdon . It poured it down but I was in heaven every type of stone you could imagine , boulders , slate , features , beautiful display gardens and all surrounding a beautiful barn conversion . I left soaked but very happy , then onto Barchams to pick out my final tree selection , more rain but some lovely trees . Then back home to check on progress, it's great having my A

team around me to get things done . 

A long journey

It was going to be an interesting day out, maybe for the wrong reasons ! It started with a pointless argument with Brian  about something pointless . 

I had bought two galvanised tanks for the garden that we needed to collect and had arranged to visit a man called Steven at Elston sawmill about some oak seats for the garden. We set off early on Saturday went the wrong way ( thought the satnav was lying to us ) anyway arrived at destination tank pickup and met a lovely couple tending their garden I even ended up with three tanks . So tied them down and off we set to Stevens sawmill when the truck started making noises louder and louder we limped to a village and asked someone if there was a garage nearby there was but it might be closed so like a snail we arrived at the garage , they had a look and the problem the  wheel bearing had gone , they were about to close and we would need to collect the truck next week . Oh dear so we walked the mile back to the village down a picturesque lane, rang a taxi and caught the train back to Peterborough just in time for Brian to make dough for his restaurant. Truck less tankless and oakless  .

On the bright side the garage are fixing the truck it could have gone on the A1, we got back in time the sun was shinning  and we had an adventure together. And most importantly  liking each other again .The follow up is the following Thursday with the truck ready to collect and fixed we went to see Steven at his sawmill talked about the seats he can do them , and he is a throughly nice man too with lots of lovely bits of wood , then we picked up the truck and headed home .

Time for a change

Time for an update the design has changed slightly in regards to the rain collection gazebo , I was having lots of problems sourcing a roof for my gazebo , I wanted it to be a rain collector but was always concerned about losing precious space underneath the canopy , as well as keeping it visible . Prices for a large polycarbonate dome were really high and I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to create it within budget and even if it would be any good when done. I just didn't feel right about it . So I did what I always do went walk about the yard , when you look with an open mind suddenly the possibilities become endless and magic seems to happen I was looking at some left overs from an art  piece I created last year from one of dads grain silos and thought if only it was bigger it would make a great roof , I pondered this idea and slept on it still stressing over the dome  situation . Next day talking to Brian he said about having a look at options and pointed out the bigger grain silo and said it could be cut down and used for the roof , aha were on the same wavelength and there the idea came . I spent the evening drawing up the new plan . I felt so much happier and suddenly the project sprang into action. Dad came over and we set about carving the silo up. it looks pretty crazy  and when on the fork lift it looked like something from madmax .