Now we have our own means of mowing the bottom field, things seem to have improved dramatically.

We have mowed the grass 3-4 times over the last month.  On the first couple of occasions, we raked up the worst of the grass, but we are now getting to the stage where we can just leave the worst of the clippings to rot back into the soil.  The grass in the bottom field does not grow as fast as the new grass in the top field.

Not quite a stripped lawn (and it doesn't look like much of a slope), but I did it on my own (and I haven't used a tractor before).

Here’s the bottom field as it looked like last year! 

The guy riding the bike in the background has two paddles strapped to the top bar of his bike. He cycled back a little later, but this time he had only one paddle strapped to his bike. What happened to the other paddle?

This was the bottom field only a couple of months ago.  We borrowed a tractor and topper to take off the worst of the grass.  We are now using our John Deere Z425 to get a better (and quicker) finish to the grass.

This is looking a lot better than it was a year ago - or even 4 months ago!

This is looking a lot better than it was a year ago – or even 4 months ago!

We repaired sections of this wall last year and now you would never know that it has been repaired.

We repaired sections of this wall last year and now you would never know that it has been repaired.

The grass in the bottom field is starting to look good. We have also had a go at sorting out the young trees in the far corner. We have removed the lower branches (essentially lifting the crown) which has meant that we can mow around the trees with the new mower.

The grass in the bottom field is starting to look good. We have also had a go at sorting out the young trees in the far corner. We have removed the lower branches (essentially lifting the crown) which has meant that we can mow around the trees with the new mower.