Area 51 - Restricted Access

With illness now behind us (hopefully) and the resurrection of the fallen fence, we've finally been able to make a physical start to the new pond build process! So what progress have we made so far ....

Old Pond

We started to dismantle the actual pond by removing the wooden beams which were screwed on top of the sleepers. This proved to be a pain as we predicted due to the screws being rusty, even though they had a coating of grease when first used. A bit of brute force and ignorance fettled the ones we couldn't unscrew. It was then time to remove the first of umpteen sleepers which formed the pond walls. Moving just one sleeper caused a cascade of memories to flood back to the forefront of our minds as to how exhausting it was to build the pond originally using the sleepers ... and that was with extra help! It also brought home the reality of how difficult it would be to front the new pond using these unforgiving pieces of wood especially trying to sit three high, one on top of the other without any wobbling, falling down or threat of injuring someone. Guess what .... time for a rethink!

Whilst endeavouring to build a new pond in the area we deem as the back garden, we're also in the process of "updating" another area which we call the middle garden. For the past seven years this particular area of garden has slowly but surely got away from us. So much so, that it actually became a dumping ground for materials, predominately of the building type such as bricks, chunks of wood and sheets of polycarb, which we couldn't find a more appropriate place for. This "restricted area" became affectionately known as AREA 51. And so it was that earlier this year or towards the back end of last year, or perhaps it was the year before that .... at some point in the not too distant past we made the conscious decision to finally turn the middle garden into a middle garden once again. With the help and we must say patience of Tracy & John from Worlds Home & Garden Services, the transformation from a no go area back to a real garden again has begun. We'd already decided that AREA 51 would make an ideal raised patio area, however this would have to be completed at some time in the future as funds wouldn't stretch to completing this along with everything else. For the time being work has currently ceased as the next stage in the make over is to lay the paving which will form the paths from one gate to another. However as this is our only access for the mini digger which we're hiring to assist us excavate the area for the new pond, we thought it made sense to wait until the mini diggering (just invented a new word) had been completed. It's at this point we jump back to the rethinking!

Bingo! We use the sleepers from the old pond to form the raised patio area for the middle garden. Not only that, but we use the soil excavated from the new pond area as infill. Genius ... cancel that skip! AREA 51 was therefore duly cleared apart from some rubble (lots of visits to the waste recycling centre this weekend) and the site readied for the imminent relocation of very heavy raised patio retainers.

Area 51

The shed to the rear of the old pond has also been emptied of all its contents and completely dismantled. Well we say dismantled but in truth once we started to take things apart it kind of dismantled itself. However we'll be salvaging what we can for use as a small tool shed in the bottom garden.

DIY (Demolish It Yourself)

Hopefully the gorgeous weather we've been having lately will remain kind to us for the weekend so we'll be able to get some more DIY (Demolish It Yourself) completed.