The Writing On The Wall
The terrace walls, going back a week or two now, as the greenhouse wall was still under construction.
I’ve mentioned in a previous post that we’ve had misgivings about these walls. It seemed a good idea at the time to opt for local stone, on the basis that it would likely provide the best match to the old stone walls elsewhere in the garden. When it arrived it couldn’t have been more different (different from the sample we’d been shown at the quarry as well, but that’s another story). The Future’s Orange. It’s perhaps fortunate that it was a dull day when I took the photo above, in bright sunlight those walls are positively radioactive. Eat your heart out Ready Brek kid. And it’s not just the colour of the stone, it’s the shape. Or shapelessness. Described as ‘random walling stone’ the huge size and general irregularity of many of the pieces made it extremely hard to achieve anything other than that crazy paving effect.
By the time it came to sourcing the stone for the greenhouse wall I’d become wiser. Burned fingers tend to do that for you. What I wanted was a more even, coursed appearance and to get that we’d need dressed stone, each piece having been worked to make it flat on all sides. As so it proved. The greenhouse wall has turned out exactly the way I envisaged.
So what to do about the terraces? For a while the work carried on. After all, there’s still a huge heap of You’ve Been Tango’d blocking the drive and it had to go somewhere. Over time it became increasingly evident that the wall builder wasn’t enjoying the process either. Especially after he’d been diverted onto the dressed stone greenhouse for a few days to help us reach a deadline. Would he ever want to go back to the terrace walls? The whole thing came to a head when the moment arrived to find paving slabs for a path to and around the greenhouse. Whichever colour we chose to go with the greenhouse shrieked at the terrace walls. And the relationship was no less bumpy the other way round. Maybe there was only one thing for it..
But what of all the work that’s gone into these walls so far? Hard won work?
Perhaps we needn’t have worried. When the builder got wind of what we were thinking his face broke into a smile so wide the Cheshire Cat has retreated into permanent retirement. The concrete blocks above provide the essential strength to a retaining wall. The stone is often just there to face it. Armed with a kango and a spring in his step, how long do you think it took the builder to take all the stone down?
One day later..
The stone won’t be wasted. There are steps to build in numerous places around chez duck. The all-weather path that I’ve always wanted down by the river bank may happen yet. For the terrace walls though it now means a delay. Dressed stone is made to order. A quick call to the quarry which produced the stone for the greenhouse has set the wheels in motion. It may be a summer planting of the new terrace borders rather than spring. But better the loss of a season than years spent in regret? Our mistake was in failing to bite this particular bullet weeks ago.
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On a housekeeping note I’ve switched the comment form to the standard WordPress version. For those who’ve mentioned difficulty commenting I hope this will help. Let me know? (You can always reach me via the direct contact tab on the blog header or social media if needs be!) If the new form doesn’t work I will look for something else. Your comments are always so welcome. Many thanks.
You are such perfectionists. This is a marvellous project
It’s a desperately frustrating project at times but having come this far, we have to get it right.
This was much easier to comment
Thanks Derrick.
Holy cow, you certainly face obstacles with your projects. You were right to take out the orange stones.
Yes, it’s quite a relief to get them down. And it will look properly joined up in the future when the greenhouse and terrace walls match.
I didn’t think the wall would look as bad as it did but you were right about the color and the contrast to the dressed stone. Even the concrete blocks look better. Glad you can find the silver lining in this. I’m finding the print in this comment box way too small to read easily as I’m typing – it’s much smaller and lighter than that in the comments already posted.
Thanks for the comment on the size of the print – I believe I have sorted it.
The more orange stone went up the worse it got, I was having nightmares in orange! It feels so much more restful now. Even with the concrete blocks.
The dressed stone on the greenhouse is so much nicer and looks like a proper dry stone wall so I can see why you disliked the crazy paving style, but as Derek mentioned, you are obviously a perfectionist. I have to say that I preferred the other comment box. This is very pale to type in and very small text to read, also I now have to enter my name and email and website that I didn’t have to do before and I find that quite a pain.
Quite a few of the comments today are going into the moderation queue, including yours, even though you have commented before and therefore should be ‘approved’. I suspect the comment form is now seeing you as ‘new’ which is why it isn’t remembering your details. If that’s the case it should work next time. The size and weight of the type is more difficult to understand because I amended it just before your comment came through. Perhaps we crossed in the post? I shall be keeping an eye on it over the next few days, I can always switch back to the old comment box. Thanks for your feedback Jude.
I was going to say when commenting on your last blog post that I like the colour of the stone re the greenhouse. Better to start again with the terrace walls than keep going and dislike the permanent end result. Heavy rain here again today, but since I’m needing to rest and recuperate probably just as well that I don’t need to go out at the moment, although frustrating. Commenting seems fine although like Jude above noticed the type is quite pale. No problem though.
This project has been such an uphill struggle, the end result has to be something we can be happy with. The greenhouse stone is really lovely and, ironically, goes with the existing stone walls better than the local stuff does!
I will darken the type another notch. Thanks for your feedback Linda and enjoy the much needed rest.
Congrats on making the right decision! I’m sure it seemed hard, but am so glad that it is working out well. Imagine having to avert your eyes from the walls for the rest of your tenure, or having to make sure your plants always hid it!
I know. It would have been awful. I was about to buy up the entire world stock of yoghurt which is supposed to hasten the ageing of stone. So, maybe a cost saving in reality?!
Oh good grief – will the pixies and gremlins ever let you get a section of this project completed without difficulty? But huge congratulations for having the courage to say “this is not right and we have to deal with the problem now, not regret it for years to come”. I know how that feels and it’s not an easy thing at all.
It took us a while to get to that point. No stone is cheap. Even, as it turned out, rubbish stone. At least we can find a use for it elsewhere. I’m coming to the conclusion that the gremlin population is expanding rapidly. Can I blame it on climate change?
Even the bare cement block is an improvement. Once everything is planted and draping over the wall and capturing attention, do you think the stone will be really noticeable. Meaning, can you just leave it be at this point. I don’t blame you for taking the stone off. You would never enjoy those beds and it would make you crazy.
I thought the type in the comment box was large enough and dark enough that it was no problem. Could be our browsers rather than a problem at your end since we seem to be seeing different things.
I have tried Firefox and Safari and, since I changed the size and weight of the type, it’s looking fine on both for me. You could well be right though, I don’t have access to Chrome or IE. Or maybe a cache issue?
I could probably hide the concrete in summer but winter is a different story. I can’t rely on a snow covering either. Here it’s usually just wet and interminably grey. The walls as they stand would only add to the dreariness. But I do agree anything is better than orange!
Good for you for taking care of it now, instead of having to look at it for years. I have had my own disappointments in the past that I get to live with. Much better to take care of it quickly.
Hi Lisa. Yes, exactly the same for me. Some things are easier to change than others but it’s almost always the case that the sooner you do it the easier it is.
Oh look at that lovely shillet! LOL! At least it drains freely and the only way is up with walls or deep beds! Still, while I liked the look of the stone – I can imagine how it would look in a huge quantity rather than just one small wall. I was thinking dark blue asters, agapanthus, plumbago or aubretia and phlox interspersed with crocosmia ooooh the mind does wander in the plant section – while I look outside at the weeds . . .
Have to admit the bricks do look better even without it being finished!
Meanwhile I’m resorting to that Annie song that grates every time I think of it – the sun’ll come out tomorrow . . . pleeeeeeeeeeease!!!
All of those plant choices will go equally well with the new walls!
It sounds like we have a while to go yet before the sun comes out. Like Thursday and Friday with the remnants of a hurricane. I can safely say I’ve had enough of rain for a bit. Is this a time to find that your wellies leak? No.
Oh dear, leaky boots! Luckily I hit the Mole Valley Farmers shop a couple of years ago, but tend to use old walking boots (or walking trainers) until it gets too soggy. My old walking boots are now destined for the bin as they are falling apart, but commandeered husbands’ old boots because I can wear socks inside those without undoing laces and waterproof. On warmer days waterproof sandals because I’m going to get wet anyway! But yeah, time for wellies in the main. We have a big metal filing cabinet full of new wellies for visitors!
I think we are in for a nice day – although the sunrise and shepherd’s warning begs to differ – it’s beautiful out there!
It was a glorious day wasn’t it! Properly warm.
But the soil is still so wet I did have to wear wellies.. the pair I also got from Mole Valley that don’t leak. Most of the time I wear rubber clogs around the garden. A scruffy pair for serious gardening and a ‘best’ pair for just pottering around and the morning tour of inspection. As the scruffy pair also now leak the ‘best’ may have to be demoted and replaced with a purchase in the sales.
Well, nothing is ever simple in your neck of the woods Jessica! Your commitment to getting it right is remarkable, and I’m sure the finished project will make that part of your estate easier to manage. I look forward to the next episode in the saga.
Terraces are far easier to deal with than the slope. I wish I could have them everywhere but I’d end up with a garden looking like one of those verdant hillsides in Vietnam. Hmmm. Perhaps not so bad?
Another challenge dealt with, and you have certainly had your challenges. Keep the vision of the finished work in your head, and you are moving in the right direction.
It does feel as if it is coming together now. But I shall whisper it, just in case..
Better to change tack now than stubbornly plough on and regret it and then have even more work to undo! I hope the dressed stone arrives sooner than expected and the builder is free to come and get the walls back up.
P.S. Commenting is fine for me.
Testing, testing!
You will be much happier with the end result if it is actually what you want even if it takes longer.
Absolutely.
And it’s saved us a fortune in yoghurt 🙂
It will go into winter now, so progress will be weather dependent. Maybe it will be a mild one and we’ll get lots done. I can only hope.
Glad comments are working and thanks for letting me know. Hope all is well with you.
A hard decision but no doubt you would have regretted leaving it especially when it glowed in summer and put flowers in the shade
It would have been difficult to find flowers to compete with it without creating psychedelia! The bottom wall worried me the most because unless I had plants trailing from above I wouldn’t be able to cover it up.
Goodness what a pain in the neck. I have noticed in life when people push on with something that they know is flawed it usually ends in expensive disaster, better to bight the bullet as soon as possible.
Grass has finally turned green and starting to grow properly after the dry summer. Still thinking about water butts, cannot believe I have a tomato and chilli glut in October as well as cucumbers. Fortunately yoga is on Wednesday mornings and I can unload veg there, but they have very high standards so only the best will do….
Comments seem to work fine for me.
Grass is going crazy here and the lonicera hedge needs trimming yet again. Perhaps it was not the most sensible thing to plant and try to keep down to 18ins.
Another bump in the road but you’ve no doubt done the right thing addressing it mid-stage rather than living to regret it until the end of time.
I would see it every day. Initially I thought the orange might be fading but I suspect that was only because the weather was dry. Now we’re into rainy season (not that there is one, summer is just slightly less rain..) the orange was coming out even more.
It was a brave but correct decision Jessica. It would have annoyed you every time you looked at it.
It certainly would have annoyed. Apart from the extra expense I just wish we hadn’t had to undo so much work.
I need to take this to heart. I have a tendency to push things through once started because, well, they are started. What a nice reminder.
It is a very hard decision to stop something you’ve started, especially if you’ve already invested a lot of time/effort/money in it. There are so many other projects hanging around here in that state!
I actually quite liked the look of the walls, but if it was annoying you both then it is better to go with a choice that you are going to enjoy and like. Anyway as you mentioned the stone can be used elsewhere in the garden.
The stone we’re now using is Purbeck but it’s not dissimilar from Cotswold, grey but with warm muted yellow tones. I’ve always loved those colours.
It is always better to get it right even if it means waiting, you could get stuck with orange walls for life. Our tiler put our feature tiles in the bathroom on upside down, and tried to tell us it looked okay that way! Sorry NO!
The comment box looks great..I’ll try sending it now..
I’m glad you stood firm. Imagine having to look at upside down tiles, that would have thoroughly annoyed me too.
They were rather on the bright side! I am sure that, although it is a pain and causes further delay, you will be glad you made that decision in the years to come. I hope the dressed stone is not too delayed.
As soon as we took the stone down the difference in that whole area of the garden convinced us we’d made the right decision. It all tones now, even with just the concrete blocks. Far more restful!
I love your courage to stop! Once it was next to the greenhouse you could see the difference but otherwise I’m not sure i’d have noticed. Once you see it though its hard not to! It was a bit like those houses that got facing stone put on a few years ago and now they look very dated! Good call to change your mind! It’s going to look fabulous. x
Thanks Martine, I hope so.
We’d kept going on trust that the orange would fade as it matured, especially with the help of yoghurt or something, but if anything the vibrancy seemed to be increasing. Plus I’ve been paying a great deal of attention to other walls as we’ve been travelling around. The orange dulls a bit, but that’s probably more dirt than anything else, especially as most examples we passed were, of necessity, close to the road!
Well done on biting the bullet. You might have regretted the colour of the walls for years although I’m sure planting would have softened the effect.
I’m hoping this comment will post as Ihad difficulty in the past so here goes…..
Hi Catherine, great that the comment box is now working for you!
Planting would definitely have softened the effect, it was what I originally intended to do. It would have been more of a problem on the bottom wall, where I’d be reliant on things trailing from above, but I’d built in some planting pockets to make even that feasible. Erigeron karvinskianus would have covered it in less than a year. What I was less sure about was how it would all look in winter, especially with our abundant rain ‘rusting’ the stone even further. In the end the only sure fire way was to replace it. Having now seen the area without the orange I’m convinced we did the right thing. If expensively!
If it’s not right, it’s not right. If it turns out as beautifully as your greenhouse base did, it will be worth the extra effort.
It wasn’t right. Trouble is, even by our standards, the weather has deteriorated sufficiently to stop play. It will have to be worth the wait as well.
I’m so glad you bit the bullet. Once the greenhouse wall went up it really made the retaining walls look ‘less than amazing’. I never thought you would consider changing the stone though! I know I would have been far too stubborn and cheap to admit I didn’t like it, so good for you.
I hope the new walls don’t look so extremely pleasant that you start eyeing the old walls!
I won’t be doing that, not least because the pot has long since run dry!
Funnily enough, the new stone looks much better with the old than our earlier attempt at specifically matching it did.
The dressed stone (stacked drystone wall effect) is perfect.
Font size and colour are fine, and my name etc is still in your system. All good.