As we progress through the works we have given ourselves on this property, there are often
little surprises that crop up from the blue.
At the back of the sand-ring, we have a tree line bordering onto our fields. Made up of Laurel and Hawthorn, it is a magnet for the local birds and wildlife although over the years it has been invaded by ivy, blackberry, and gorse to name but three plants.
The wild overgrown mess at the back of the sand-ring.
As you can see from the above photo it looks a little out of control and a bit messy to boot. After taking down the fencing surrounding the sand-ring, we decided to clean up the border as best we could whilst not spending too much time as we have many other more important chores to get on with.
So we set about working on this area on days where it could rain at any moment as we could nip into the shed for shelter should we need to.
There was a fair bit of gorse growing around the ring so it took a lot of cutting to get it all down and then take it up to the fields where we have a use for it.
The gorse has been cut down exposing other features.
On cutting down the gorse it revealed another feature we did not know was there! Namely, a drystone wall running downwards to the edge of the sand-ring and in pretty good nick too. After fighting the brambles and ivy to clear the slope we got to see more of this feature and are very pleased with what we found.
The newly discovered drystone wall at the back of the sand-ring.
Revealing a little more of the drystone wall.
We have not fully explored the wall or how far it goes either way up and down but it is rather exciting for us. Paul planned to put a set of steps and access through this area to the orchard which lies just behind the wall at the top. He can now open the wall, square it off and put a nice stone arch leading to the orchard field for good access and a great feature.
A win, win after the orchard was ravaged.
It will take some time to knock this area into shape but when it has been done it should look terrific and practical too. Ah well, back to the hard work before we can admire our hard work.