More Memory Lane(ish)

Posted by Simon

We decided to continue cutting the grass and scrub in the field. So Monday I spent the afternoon armed with the brush-cutter and finished cutting all the growth down. The grass was so full of bramble and bracken that we could not use it for hay. I left it on the ground to dry and today Rosie and I raked it up and burnt it. My trip down memory lane - oh I remember those steep hills, the insect bites, the skin ripped by brambles and the aching limbs at the end of the day! Plus on a hot June day loading a red hot bonfire is not the best of occupations.

This half of the field we had planned to fence and start to clear this year is now completed. The idea at first was to get it fenced and then get the sheep in but I realised it was not worth moving them down there until after they were sheared. By the time we'd sheared them the grass had grown too long and so needed cutting. Now we have cut everything back and so that is another big job out of the way. We will have to cut the scrubby areas again, at a later date, to keep it under control and let the grass grow back. Some of the bramble was over two metres high but now it is cleared we feel it was a job worth doing - only problem is we've got it all to look forward to again in the other half of the field (see 2nd photo).

I have also been progressing in the gite with the timber work on the upper floors nearly completed and the digging out of the ground floor slowly getting there. Although there is a rather large pile of earth outside the gite which has to be dealt with - one day. It's slow work but I do feel I'm progressing in the right direction.

And by the way, anyone fancy a conservation holiday doing grassland management and fencing later this year - or moving piles of soil?