And then came the sun....and the repairs

Now I know that many of you reading this will be in parts of the world where spring has just been non-existent so far. It did come here for a few days at the start of the month and the garden went ballistic, putting up the roses and clematis with blossoms twice their normal size and weeds the size of small town buildings. And then the rain came again and we plumetted to 4 degrees in the mornings. So, having cleaned out the log burners and given them their once a year blacking and polishing, we gave in and had fires for a week to keep the damp at bay.

The view from our second terrace back to the house, taken on the gardening day by Gerrit.

But just before the rain on the first Thursday of the month we had a load of people from our local gardening group ('Beiras Grass Roots') visit to see what we are doing with our patch to try to create a bit more bio-diversity and habitiats for wildlife.  
They are mainly interested Dutch, Belgian and British expats who meet up once a month and over coffee and cake swap plants, seeds and ideas. 
They also wanted to hear about what we are doing to try and identify the wild flowers around here and sowing more wild flowers each year. 
It was a bit intimidating because I am not a 'gardener' and what we do kind of happens by accident...you do something and a space appears and you think...'hmmm what can we put there' and if it survives all well and good. Likewise if a 'weed/wildflower' happens to be pretty and grow in alongside everthing else then it stays.

We put up the patio awning because the sun actually came out!

So I talked to them abour our 'serendipity garden' and plans to replant the terraces and fields with different varieties of trees and hardy shrubs,so along with the ponds and the slow return to natural growth someone in about 50 years will think we have done a good job.
Anyway it was a good morning and very relaxed and everyone had a good wander around and had lots of nice things to say which was pleasing. A few friends stayed on for lunch too so it was a nice day altogether.

Checking out the fenced off loose tongued orchids!

After the rainy and cold week we decided that we had to sort out the damp coming into the kitchen from the empty goatshed next to the house. 

Water soaks through the wall of the shed and then the damp inside permeates the house. So Steve, dug a trench and Ness and Fraser cleared the debris to see what was happening.
It turned out that there were several holes in the wall below the surface and to add to our problems the down pipe from the gutter was also leaking and just went into the ground!
So the holes were rendered, the trench was lined with pond liner up to the surface and gravel in the base, angled towards the down steps to the next terrace flower bed and then filled back up. 4 hours later you couldn't tell the difference, except that the gutter pipe now runs across the tiled top and onto the flower bed below! 

Great job!

The next day I cleared out the mess inside the shed. Steve and Fraser had already ripped out the manger on the back wall and now it is just a case of allowing the inside of the shed to dry before we render and damp proof the right hand corner and wall to the house.

Meanwhile Fraser decided it was time to rebuild our back staircase to the house which, after 9 years needed a lot of TLC.

Original build and...... 9 years later it all had to come down!       

New platform frame done!

But this time he is changing the layout of the steps and the platform supports and stairs are held off the ground by rebar spikes to prevent rot. 

Now waiting for the cement to set off and we have to organise new stairs. The platform is going to be done with the residue of our composite plastic decking.
So watch this space for how it finally all comes together!

Fraser has re-tied our wild and wavy fence with new willow and we have added a few more interesting bits of driftwood from the river beach.
 
And we aren't the only ones who have been busy. One of our resident male wrens has been frantically building nests for his female to choose from. This one wasn't chosen sadly, probably because it is outside our utility room so just a bit too busy for her liking. Shame...it would have been nice to have them there.


My two drawing classes continue and if you are interested in taking a look at how they are doing you can click on the link below our header 'Drawing Diaries'.

 The biggest pleasure this month? Sitting outside at last, on the kitchen patio early evening on some days, overwhelmed by the smell of jasmine and honeysuckle with a glass of wine or other relevant alcoholic beverage of our choice. YESSSS! Maybe summer is here at last!

CHEERS. HAPPY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND!