Well, the weather has improved enough for us to be outdoors. It was hovering just above freezing, but it didn’t notice too much as long as you kept moving!
We are still working on the wall in the orchard and are now using some of the stone that has been removed during the renovation. Since the one side of the wall is higher than the other, the first five courses on the orchard side are actually underground. This means that there is an opportunity to use any old stone in these courses as they won’t be seen. This provides the opportunity to get rid of some of the stone that has been removed while renovating the smaller cottage. This consists of concrete blocks, old bricks and the occasional patio slab. This is quicker to lay as the material is more uniform and has flatter edges. This feels like a bit of a “cheat”, but since the material can’t been seen and it saves the stone for the rest of the wall, I can’t see why not.
We did remove some stone that made up the rather awful 1970’s fireplace in the smaller cottage. This roughly matches some of the stone in the wall, so we have decide to use this. It will be seen, but as long as none of the machined edges face out on the wall, I think they will blend in OK, particularly once they have weathered a bit.
Now we have removed the shed in the corner and some of the undergrowth, people who drive by can see us working on the wall. This has led to numerous cryptic comments in the local pub.
Still working in the orchard. You can just some a couple of pale grey bricks hidden at the bottom of the right hand side of the wall. The first 5 courses on this side are hidden underground since this provides an opportunity to get rid of some of the material that we have removed.