The holiday is over

On the last day of our holiday on the canals, the builders started work - at last!

We got back home to find the site now full of machinery, a toilet, and lots of fencing.  The contractor insures the site and obviously wants to prevent anyone from gaining access to what will hopefully become a building site.  Over the next few days more fencing arrives making it almost impossible to get into without a serious spanner.

There's not much left of the site untouched.  Even the semi-looked-after canalside has suffered. 

We can still access our mooring though, but only through next door.

We are being warned that the ground works will take 6-8 weeks, and that it will look worse before it looks better!

The wall's finishing touches

Sarah, our neighbour understandably did not want a solid brick wall all the way down to the edge of the canal, instead preferring railings which still give a view but with some privacy. After several weeks of design, manufacture and preparation, they were finally installed and look good. 

The following photos show the first two panels installed with the remaining pair not yet in position.

This final photo shows the last piece of the railing reaching almost to the canal.  There is a small gap at the end which we will be able to squeeze around, hopefully without falling into the canal!

One small step, one large pile of chippings

We plan to keep the lower part of the plot nearest the canal fairly natural.  We have a few trees, including an impressive weeping willow, but over the years, the plot had more trees which have been removed.  In particular, one large stump remained and since it was close the edge of the canal, it was going to be in the way, so it had to go.

A man with a stump-grinder was duly engaged to do the honours.  Although a small step in the context of building a house, it was a significant milestone as it was the first time any significant machinery had done any work on the site.

By the time the photos were taken, he had already removed a good deal of the stump.  It does seem a very efficient way of generating loads of wood chippings which we levelled out over a considerable area!