Ground Force

As usual with a mighty down pour comes the feeling that I ought to write a blog post. We've had howling wind, rain and hail stones, so I've been avoiding outside work as much as I can, though it's very hard to dissuade Dad from work that needs to be done no matter how much of a storm is raging.
There have been some more developments, mainly in the shape of a puppy.
A new sheepdog for my brother and she has been an awfully cute distraction for us all, busy collecting all the squeaky toys and shoes she can find, chewing her tail for longer than you imagine is comfortable and eating twice her weight in everything.
Don't worry, I'll include plenty of photo's in this post so no one misses out.

We've been pretty relentless with the stonewalling this month. There'll be creepy crawlies galore come the summer time, never mind building holiday accommodation it seems more like we're building permanent homes for all the wildlife in Mid Wales.
Behind the house we've made what I like to call a terrace, because it sounds swanky and because it's what I like to imagine it will become when I manage to control all the nettles and ferns.
The wall is currently number one on my list of favourite walls.
The top wall was a combined effort between Dad, Jake and myself, but the bottom tier was a whole family affair. Steve finally being allowed a seat in the digger to clear the way and Christine whizzing through the stones like she'd been born into it.

Once we'd got to this point in building I went and bought some herbs to plant along the top terrace with the intention of sprucing it up and hoping that it would give them plenty of time to establish. I'm sure they would be doing much better if the sheep hadn't immediately arrived to stamp all over them but I'm tending to them regardless in the hope that a bit of trampling is good for the leaves and won't make much difference in the long run.

Now that we're getting into the (slightly) warmer weather we've also made a start on some of the landscaping around the front with the idea that doing it now gives it plenty of time to "bed in" before we have our first guests, or at this rate by the time we get planning permission.

The ground in front of the stable will need to be lowered to match the level of the floor outside the house so to accommodate this change the little wall in front of the stable has become a casualty. This has allowed us to make the road from the bridge more of a sweeping shape and replace the wall but set further back and lower than before. To make a change from stacking stones we've also brought back some lovely soil to make a border next to the bridge which I have every intention of keeping wonderfully maintained and full of pretty cottage flowers.
We'll see how long before I get fed up and turn it all into lawn.
Keeping with the theme of reusing much of what we already have to save money be a little bit more eco-friendly we've started taking some slates off an old barn on the farm that has fallen into disrepair with the intention of using them to fix the roof of the chapel that itself is in need of some quite serious repairing. They are quite a mismatched collection of old, quality welsh slate (I'm guessing) so they are lacking in uniformity but their age makes them quite unusual and in keeping with the style of the chapel which itself is a no more than an old preaching station really, nothing lavish about it but with plenty of character regardless as I imagine it was built by the people of the valley who were to use it at the time.

A few days ago Mam took a photo looking down on the house from roughly the same position as she did a few months ago before we moved in, so probably around October to make note of the change that has happened in the months between. 

I love a before and after photo because I find that very quickly I find it difficult to clearly recall what has been changed so I like the opportunity to see the changes side by side.

Now that the grass is greener the horses have returned to their summer grazing down the road so they won't be waking us up at night walking over the bridge and scaring me half to death any longer, but it is a shame to see them go. We still have some serious fencing to do though and with builders hopefully arriving soon it wouldn't be ideal having the ponies roaming all over the shop, especially if there's scaffolding about as they're very nosey and would surely get into all kinds of trouble.

 Finally as promised is a collection of photos of the puppy, because who can resist?