A weekend of gardening.... destruction....

Finally on Friday we got the keys to the house we bought to do up and eventually live in. Grand plan is to take about 2 years to complete it. As it has been empty for a couple of years, and has had nothing done inside since the 1960's, you can imagine the state it is in. Plaster is coming off the walls inside and damp is everywhere. It needs total rewiring, replastering - gutting.

The garden is huge and had been allowed to run wild so we spent the weekend tackling first the front garden (huge bushes in front of the house needed to come out so that we could 1. reach the front door.... and 2. allow light into the front room)... and then the hedges needed cutting back. You can now see the lovely 1930's front door which is in good condition - probably because its been protected by all those bushes. In the first picture we have cleared half of the first bush. And in the second, just the roots need to come out and the hedges have been trimmed.

Yesterday we started on the back garden. So that we can extend out the back we needed to remove 2 huge azalea bushes (each about 6' across). There was even an apple tree and a hawthorn hidden inside them.

It was my job to cut them down and now I am covered in scratches and bruises, and I ache in places I didnt know I had....

Somehow we have to get the roots out, but thats a job for next week.





Neil tackled the rest of the garden and eventually found some grass under all the weeds.....

We even managed to have our first meal at the house in the garden.... not exactly a four course meal, but tasty.....

And inside we uncovered a few hidden gems. This fireplace was hidden away behind panels in the main bedroom.


We then found a matching one in the second bedroom. There are still picture rails and fancy skirting boards and although they will need to come down for the walls to be replastered, we plan on replacing them to keep the character of the house as much as possible.