Saturday, 10th June 2023
The rebuilding of the gardener’s cottage is making good progress and is well ahead of schedule. That’s a good thing, because it was discovered that the pitched roof above the laundry room (on the left in this photo) was in danger of collapsing as a result of a construction error when it was built in the 1970s. Built on top of what was a flat roof (still there, complete with ancient satellite dish), it did not have enough cross-bracing timbers to support the weight of the tiles, and over time some of the timbers detached themselves from the overall framework. The whole structure needs to be rebuilt urgently. So the tiles have been removed and the timbers taken down. A growing pile of battens is waiting to be recycled as kindling for Colin’s woodburner. Colin is our temporary gardener until the cottage is occupied again. He is the creator of the magic circles on the front lawn, which are visible from Google maps. He is delighted to fill his van with these awful battens full of nails!