Well, after 2.5 years we have managed to finish the dry stone wall along the side of the orchard and the top field.  It was November 2012 when I finished building the first bit of “test” wall – I did this after attending a weekend dry stone walling course.  I did keep a record of how many days that we spent dry stone walling, but lost count at around 20.  I suspect that we have spent between 50-60 days over the last couple of years rebuilding this wall.  We have worked on other walls around the property during this time as well as building the retaining walls in the patio, so we haven’t been doing nothing.

The finished wall is around 110m in length.  The wall was in pretty bad shape when we started the project and the vast majority of it has been taken down and totally rebuilt – we have only managed to keep around 3-4 metres of the original wall.

The wall isn’t perfect, but then dry stone walls never are!  They are a reflection of the quality of the stone that goes into it.  This wall contains the well rounded gritstone that made up the field boundaries, but now contains additional stone left over from the building work or some of the demolitions.  While the wall in the orchard is largely straight, the one along the side of the top field has quite a few wiggles in it – mainly due to trees.  We still have some stone left over from the building work, so I suspect there is some more dry stone walling to come.

It is just over 110 metres from the gate around to the far Ash tree in the distance.

It is just over 110 metres from the gate around to the far Ash tree in the distance.

It is just over 110 metres in length and the original "test section" of wall is in the far distance next to the furthest tree. With each metre of wall containing around 1 tonne of stone, this has been a bit of a labour of love over the last couple of years.

It is just over 110 metres in length and the original “test section” of wall is in the far distance next to the furthest tree. With each metre of wall containing around 1 tonne of stone, this has been a bit of a labour of love over the last couple of years.

 

The fields on this side of the wall don't belong to us so for now we have just had a bit of a tidy up.

The fields on this side of the wall don’t belong to us so for now we have just had a bit of a tidy up.

You can see the wiggles on both sides of the wall. Plus we also have a fair amount of stone to move before we can start moving right up to this wall.

You can see the wiggles on both sides of the wall. Plus we also have a fair amount of stone to move before we can start mowing right up to this wall.

The bit of wall to the right of the original test section (it is a slightly paler colour) looks a bit of a mess! I think I might have to have a go at rebuilding that bit. If only for vanity's sake.

The bit of wall to the right of the original test section (it is a slightly paler colour) looks a bit of a mess! I think I might have to have a go at rebuilding that bit. If only for vanity’s sake.