A lovely week

This past week has been superb, not just because of the beautiful weather we have been having but also having one of our sons, Peter, and daughter-in-law Rachael staying with us. They also brought their dog, "Matty" with them. It was lovely so spend time with them as it was a few weeks ago when our youngest son, David and Amanda stayed for a few day with the grandchildren Tom and Emily.

I have slowed down a bit recently in cutting down the row of trees behind the house that have been putting the house in shade during the evenings. Peter and Rachael insisted that they give me a hand to lop some more off, however after cutting off the first one and commenting that was one of the most dangerous jobs he had ever done! Thanks pete! He talked me into taking the rest down to ground level. I am really glad that he did as It's going to open up the back of our property and give it a whole new look.



We have left just one standing as there is another fir in the field behind that would need to come down as well if we cut it down, however who knows next year I may be tempted.
They were some serious trees that we took down and I will have a few weeks work in logging them up and clearing them away.

The ground actually shook as the larger ones came down and should provide wood for the woodburner for a long time to come.

With the lovely weather we were able to spend a few evening out on the decking with the Chimenea going and the BBQ on.

Busy Times but lazy BBQs to come

Well after our 25,000 mile trip round the world I thought it was time to start a job at home that I've had in mind for a while. At the rear of our house is a sort of patio area.

As you can see in the photo it is just plain concrete and not very attractive and it doesn't inspire you much to make use of it even though it gets all the sunshine in the afternoon and evening and an ideal place to sit outside.

I decided that I would make a larger decked area, but rather than just a boring rectangle I would be a bit adventurous and extend it with an octagonal seating area.

These two photos show the octagonal end set out and the decking started and were taken 7 days ago.

This one shows the seat construction started and more of the decking completed

Just two weeks to the day after starting it here is the completed area.

I am really pleased with the end result which came about all the quicker with the help of my son, Peter, who came over on Monday and helped for two and a half days.

If you look closely you can see I've also put in low level LED lighting under all the seats plus installed hidden speakers for a sound system under the seating.

In all I used about 250 metres of timber 400 metres of decking boards and well over 2000 screws.

Time now over the coming Months for long evenings by the Chimenea  and many BBQS.

Happy Days!