GARDEN DEVELOPMENTS

So the garden. Once home to a thousand bulbous bushes, elderly rose sprawls, things that were plants but were now suspiciously tree-like and other Nan favourites, is looking very different.  RB has been fixated on the idea of creating a sloping lawn up to a reduced patio with narrow borders.  This will maximise the lawn space. I have to say, I'm still slightly on the fence about the slope - it does, as he said, bring the lawn - and some much needed colour - up to the house, but it feels a bit ... weird. In my opinion (which is not humble). 

Anyway. He's pleased with it and the garden's his bag so who am I to argue. There're no rhodendrums and the patio isn't like a concrete expanse of desolate depression so I'm happy.

So. Here's how it looked when we moved in.

Aside from those bushes, it's a good garden. We had nothing against the garden apart from ...

See that patio. What were they THINKING when they put a patio that size in?  That home street-hockey was going to come into vogue?

So we lived with it, stripping bits here and there, moving sheds, taking down trees, smashing the bejeezus out of the patio.

Then we got one of these.

I know. Our builder was BEYOND excited when it turned up. I came back from shopping and he was out there in the driving rain, all 'yeah, I'm driving a JCB, whatever' with a fag hanging from his mouth while his dad (they're a team) ran around banging the mud out of the digger with  a plastic bag on his head.  It was a sight to behold.

Anyway. That's sitting on last summer's addition to the garden - we moved the shed across the garden, took out the trees and rose/rockery and created a patio. I think we had a drink on it last September.

So this is what our builder did in those first few days.  You can see the slope being built up.

And the patio being smashed down :).

Then they tidied up the patio and built some steps.

How neat is that!  I mean, have you ever seen a slope so smoothly done?  Note the positive appraising going on from RB.

We also had a gardener in to unturf and level. It's like a beardy man suddenly shaved, isn't it. For some reason, though, this feels quite sophisticated to me.

Anyway. Tonight, we came home to this:

I mean, LOOK at that patio and the steps!

Turf should be finished tomorrow and then it's just tidying up the remaining bulbous bushes and sorting out the front path. Piece. Of. Cake. (because we're getting someonelse to do it)