Building ponds and gardening

Our new pond under construction in our parking area at the rear of our homestead. Mr Bangay is so clever with his proportions and design.

It has been the height of activity on our property this week with major projects coming to fruition. After mentioning to my husband my parents were arriving this weekend he also performed a garden blitz in their honour. These are our Plane trees now pollarded for winter.

Our new circular pond is looking lovely, and once stone work has been completed and garden beds and lawns planted, should settle in beautifully. Enjoy your weekend I am off to the kitchen to start cooking to prepare a yummy dinner for my family tonight. x

A new pond in progress

As you can see we have had a frenzy of activity going on here over the long weekend. Our lovely smooth green lawn you see at the beginning of my blog has been excavated, leveled and a circular hole has been dug to prepare for a new pond.

The land previously sloped away from the top lawn. New top soil has been brought in to create a flat level for the new pond. Stone steps will be built to transition down to this new level.

It's amazing what a difference it makes. Although quite messy I can appreciate the effect these design changes will make. I am looking forward to seeing it green again, which could take a while.

sometimes big machinery is needed to do the job!

The hole is complete, now for the rock work and pond building to begin. Some how I feel the hard part has not started yet. Will keep you posted with the progress.

Parterre Garden

A before shot of the old clay tennis court after the fence had been taken down.

We are currently in the process of renovating an old country garden on our property. We have employed Paul Bangay for the design work and are thrilled with the results as they are unfolding. This is a view of the old tennis court which is being converted to a French parterre garden. It will be filled with English box, French lavender, cat mint and old fashioned rugusa roses. As with all jobs we have undertaken to carry out Paul's master plan, they have been larger than we realised. The base of this court was solid rock and excavators were needed to dig through the hard base to prepare the garden beds. Over the old clay base we have laid a local gravel to match the drive. I say we, in fact my Husband does all the gardening in our family.

We began our renovating over 4 years ago and although each stage has been a massive undertaking we feel it is really starting to take shape. I will keep you posted with our progress as it develops.