The 'Real' work begins.......
The first job to tackle was the removal of a number of trees, none of which was of any real worth, all Leylandii or similar type. There were a couple of really nice Rhodedendron bushes and a Wisteria, but they had become too established to be able to lift and re-plant, so sadly had to go too. Luckily I had my own chainsaw, so removing everything was relatively simple. All the foliage was stacked up in the trailer and taken to the 'green' skip at Lanivet amenity site. This took several loads over a few days, but that stuff was impossible to shred with a garden shredder, I had tried, which resulted in the demise of my Bosch jobby. The logs were stacked up and would all eventually find a use within the family, but not before moving them all several times, as they were in the way of doing some job somewhere along the line. The roots would also have to be removed at some point, but that would be for a later date, and hopefully using heavy plant.
In addition to the tree clearing, the front hedge, which I had previously 'laid', was completely stripped in preparation for removing the stone and earth bank to allow access. I then excavated an opening by hand to allow vehicular access.
All the good soil and re-usable stone was retained, but all the waste was bagged up and taken to Lanivet amenity, as before over a number of days. The East boundary of Arlington is angled inwards from the road which produced a plot wider at the front. As our plot was relatively narrow, we had already decided to angle our boundary to mirror it, thus giving us manouvering space to enter the garage which would be built 'side on'. The dividing line was decided, and turf cut and lifted to act as a guide for the digger driver.
It was time to call in Colin Bilkey, who we have known since 1982 when we built our first house. He provided his services and expertise with the digger, and also a tractor and massive trailer to take away the spoil, which all went to Callywith Quarry only a short distance away. It did not take long to clear an area of lawn and topsoil to prepare a hardstanding, and the footings for the boundary down to the front of Arlington.
On the last trip to the quarry, Colin returned with a load of crushed quarry stone waste to provide a clean level space, to park the Pajero and trailer, and to form a working and materials storage area. It was the end of May.
The building of the boundary could now commence.
