Old Boys and boulders

The Grizebeck Farmhouse  got off to a good start with demolition of the existing and excavations for the new extension well underway. The old building came down easy with the use of a 3 ton machine.and telehandler.
Not like back in the old days when it was built. The old boys had just the use of primitive tools and a lot of nouse. in those days they didn't have the use of heavy machines only horse and cart. , brawn and brain,often moving large stones and boulders with levers and round poles. excavation work again was done by many hands with pick and shovel,farms like these had a rook of farm labour. often clearing fields by hand and the stones where then used for field walls and farm buildings.
The glacial boulder you can see in the picture forms the lower wall of the farm building,left over from the melt water of the previous ice age could have been carried along in the ice for miles,  smoothed and shaped by up to a mile thick of ice then deposited in the melt water .
The old boys  probably dug the boulder further up in the building excavations and slide it into position with many hands. weighing about 3 tons in total.
The existing gable will now need underpinning.this will mean excavating small sections of wall to a depth of 600mm in sequence ,concreting and building back in brick to form a good strong base to a crumbling wall.
Underpinning will start next week so we will let you know how we got on.

Mill Gate moved very little this week as the boys where call in to tackle a few outstanding jobs on an Ambleside property refurbishment, of which we hope to bring you some pictures soon.

The New house at Coniston moved forward a little, with new drains ,setting out for the house and the start of excavations to the outer walls.
Its a bit of a waiting game at the minute as we are quickly running out of room with approximately 250 tons of excavated material on site needing removal . but the bridge needs another good week in which to harden off before we dare use it.
I hope to bring you some more good weather next week and in the mean time keep lashing on the sun cream and most of all keep smiling its a great world out there!
Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog.
See you next week.

Contrast: Bridge U beams, Demolition and Flowers.

This week saw a contrast both in weather and work.
The Coniston site very quickly turned into a mire as the heavens opened on Thursday, the river rose a couple of feet in 24 hrs and left me thinking how lucky we had been with the foundation work too the bridge.
Another week later would have made conditions near impossible .
The U Beams for the bridge deck are now in place ,our site joiners Sam and Dan have begun the task of ply shuttering to the underside of the bridge and our experienced hands Pete and Andy have begun the task of reinforced steel fixing to the deck in readiness for the concrete pour. Large boulders from the excavations where also added along both sides of the bridge at the base to provide protection to the concrete during bouts of heavy rain inducing smaller stone movement.

Demolition started on the Grizebeck job in readiness for a new extension to a lovely 18th Century farm house. many features and character will be added to the property with their own ideas and hopefully ours too. pictures will follow over the weeks to come.
Mill Gate saw the near completion of the new path,part completion of the curved retaining wall for the perimeter of  the new pond and other borders including the wisteria border to form an archway  through onto the newly formed steps into the woodland,a covering of top soil to the reinstated areas around the path including seeding the play area banking with wild meadow flowers .
all told.a good weeks work really.
See you next week.with more garden walls built,setting out of the new Coniston house and excavations to the Grizebeck extension.
until then BFN.

Heron on Mill Gate lawn comes to admire our work.

If i am honest it took me a good two days to get over the Highland Bike ride. 20 years ago i would have been out working the same evening.and probably boiled the kettle half a dozen times before i got my cuppa.
It was a fab trip though and well worth the effort.
The week went well with the Coniston plot now with half the bridge  complete.Both abutments are  in place and back filled with the concrete left to harden off ready for the steel UBs and concrete deck.
The end of the week saw us having a good tidy round ready for excavations of the New house late next week.
Mill Gate saw landscaping reach a point where the fruits of our labour could be seen quite clearly.
Recycled green stone edgings where put in place with dressed edgings defining a neat curved path area from the newly seeded lawn.
Large stones found in our excavations where add to the borders to give the planted areas definition
and harmonise with the greenery .
The great thing about Mill gate is the fact i can be as creative as i like as pretty much everything is an open canvas.
Creativity is paramount to our work. features and little things out of the ordinary can unconsciously
add a quality to your life, its a little like looking at a nice view on a sunny day, features can raise a smile  even on a wet miserable day on your way out to work for another stressful day ,or on your return home.
Our sculpture at the entrance to Mill Gate was added this week in a flash of inspiration.
We are currently working with a local blacksmith incorporating Ancient tree roots , wrought iron work and stone to create unique sculptures ( showing at Holker hall garden festival on 8th -10th of June)
We can be comissioned to create your unique sculpture from our extensive stock of raw material just ether drop us a line or phone for a viewing and friendly chat ( you never know you may even get a fresh cup of coffee and some home baking). or pick up a bag of our home grown Snowie lump wood Charcoal.
We will bring you more next week on the ever changing landscape of Mill Gate ,progress at the Coniston plot and much more.
Have a great week and stay safe.

A great week for biking and building.

Last week went well. the weather held for us and we managed to get the main stream wall foundations and steel in for the bridge at Coniston with a concrete pour on Friday.
With relief as the rest of the country wallowing in floods  we are now out of the water with both bridge abutments in place .
Another couple of days should see us ready for the galvanised Ubeams to span the gap with steel reinforcement and concrete over.
Work at home has also gone well too ,seeing the water tank complete and Tanked internally with Hedi k11.
Landscaping to the kids play area is now almost complete too, some large boulders from the pond excavations have been put to good use as a seat with room for planting ether side.
Thursday evening saw me pack the bike and head off for northern Scotland for 4 days.
Again whilst the rest of the country including Cumbria got heavy rain  we Faired well with sunshine for much of the time making very very pleasant riding indeed
We covered 1200 miles in 4 days. walked scrambled Stac polly standing at 700m a sand stone volcano looking mountain with its pillars and precarious looking rocks perched high above looking as though one slight push and they would be tumbling to the abyss below. carved from the ice age and millions of years of weather there's some pretty impressive shapes.
Wild camping much of the time its a very friendly easy going and beautiful place, Applecross with its 1500' pass and great food at the Applecross Inn,Ullapool to Durness with its long easy roads and a picture to be had around every corner,Durness to John o Groats with its beautiful white sandy (empty)beaches and quiet roads made for a fantastic break and makes you just want to go back and do some more some time soon.

More next week . bye for now.