You may remember that the major extension and refurbishment of our cottage completed shortly after I retired left our garden looking like a building site. In fact that’s exactly what is was but due to Christine’s sense of design and natural talent to make anything look good we completed the garden renovation up to the back of the cottage some months ago. What is left is the bottom of the garden beyond the cottage that now needs a complete make over.


Now just because I have laid York Stone paving to the ‘room in the garden’ and the terrace down past the ‘garden room’ Christine obviously thinks I like doing it and has decided we need a further York Stone terrace at the back of the house.


I have previously commented on the effort involved in just getting this stone to our garden and I can now say that the effort involved in laying it was even greater. But that’s it, after we lay the new lawn there will be no more garden left to pave even if we wanted to. Just to make sure I mention to Christine that any further requests for terraces, patios or paving in general will probably lead to one of us being underneath it and leave her to ponder on which of us that will be.





But as you can see this pile of random stone has been transformed into this excellent patio and walled area ready for a lawn. To do this takes team work and one of the team needs to be able to envisage the end product and one of the team needs to be able to move rocks and mix cement, perhaps you can guess who is who in our team.





The trouble is Christine only sees the end product as we go along. She believes the right way to get the required result is to let things evolve. She starts with a broad idea of what she wants and then refines it as we go, this of course means that some things are completed only to be not quite what’s required and need changing. Not a problem for the designer but quite a problem for the person whose arms are once again not functioning and whose back and knees are in need of treatment. But the end product is always exception so what can I say.


The patio is now finished, the paths are finished and all that is required is the lawn, Christine has started ‘dressing’ the patio with chairs, tables, pots and plants and so we decided to christen the patio by opening a bottle of wine. Not a thing I am averse to.


As we sit in our chairs, Christine in her designer ‘steamer’ with detachable footrest and me in my wooden chair from B&Q drinking a glass of quite passable Chablis Christine mentions there is a draft. We are outside on a patio, the light breeze is blowing across the garden but Christine is sat in a draft. She is sitting in her steamer against the Church wall and there is a gap of about six inches to our cottage wall and she claims a draft is blowing through the gap. How can you have a draft we are outside it doesn’t make sense.


I am now trying to find something that can fill a six inch gap four feet high that just happens to be around the garden. The problem is that even if I find something it will probably be the wrong colour or not match in with the cottage brickwork or the Church wall. I’ll probably have to move the whole patio six inches to the left! Is there any Chablis left or do I need another bottle?