A week away in the Gower.

5 nights B&B 5*

Perfect weather, good food & drink, excellent digs & recaptured some of my past,.

My old house back in the 40's. Looks nicer now

I used to play here as a child. There used to be a drinking fountain here that had a big metal cup on a very heavy chain. I learned some time ago the cup had gone missing. Now it would seem the whole fountain has gone missing.

Terrace Road School, where I started out my education. My first day was a bit of a shock, when "Play time" came around, we all went out to the playground, I could not understand what the children were waiting for, didn't they know the way home? I did, so I went. Mum had a shock when I got in, she wanted to know why I was back so early, I told her we had all finished & the kids were waiting to be picked up. The Teachers had a shock when they could not find me, they searched high & low for me, as I might have gone to some other part of the School....I had a bigger shock when my Mum took me back, School did not finish until 3 in the afternoon. Dinner break was next & my Mum would pick me up feed me & take me back, then collect me at 3. It was that day, I decided I was not all that keen on School after all.

Here's a link to the Mumbles Train I used to love the days out to the Mumbles travelling on the "train" to the Mumbles pier. Blue leather seats, the backs of the seats could be swung one way or the other so passengers did not have to travel backwards. I understand that there is no surviving train left in the country. However there is part of an original near to the museums in Swansea.

This is the replacement, they call it the Mumbles Train...I call it a travesty. I have come across a rumour that a "Sky Train" is to take the old route from Rutland Street to the Pier....Mono rail I imagine, but with costs as they are in the present climate, I'll not hold my breath.

Blackpill station somewhat modified but a big improvement

The posters on the station wall. Some of the history.

The park & paddling pool. This is quite a change from the original station when I knew it. Did you see the station on the video?

 Back Garden Project 2010

Started in 2009, but had to be stopped due to health problems

After a fair bit of digging, scraping, weeding & generally sorting out the unwanted growth this is what I am left with. The pond has developed a leak through root damage, so the liner needs to be changed. A good enough reason to alter the whole thing. Back to front, side to side &
roots up.

This used to be the site of the former pergola. The Wisteria got too big & heavy for the frame. I used the wrong timber. Having removed the frame work (& that was a big job) I am training the Wisteria to be a standard, well, that's the hope. The other shrubbery I have moved from other areas  & replanted in this corner.
The rocks? they are there until I can create a new rockery.

This is the site of the proposed header pond. A rockery used to be here. When it is filled with water, I'm wondering what I can keep in there, fish, plants or both. Or perhaps fill it with other rocks. Time will tell.

This is the proposed stream site. I need to keep it bird friendly so they can bathe/drink in safety . I'm not keen on the idea of removing drowned birds from the pond.

Most of the unwanted stuff has now gone. The water lilly will be next after draining to a level where I can catch the fish. There's a paddling pool awaiting them on the patio.

Fish, lilly, water, gone. I can use the old liner for other jobs in the garden. There is a fair bit of repair work to do to the "hole" before putting the new liner in. As can be seen here it's looking rough.

New liner in & filled, almost. Need to trim & set the stream & header pond. I ran the pump for several hours before putting the fish back. That was to remove the chlorine gas from the water, fish do not like it as it is poisonous to them,. The can tolerate top-ups from the mains.

The stream is now running from the header pond. There is still a lot of trimming to do here as well as sorting out the final width & depth, this can be done using small aggregate & pebbles control the flow. The filter is behind the conifer, partially buried. I am not using the UV light yet as the water needs to mature for about 6 weeks.

This is to be done later. The excuse for a rockery is to go (I think the half barrel might stay where it is, & be used as a second water feature). I have slabs from the former pergola site that can be used to extend the patio, thereby extending the time in the morning sun (this is the North side)
As time goes on, I shall add more pictures here as the garden takes shape. So far, the above has taken 5weeks I'm in no rush, my body is not a fit as it once was, & the weather needs to be on my side.

 After a week away We have returned to start again. Here's My Good Lady cleaning the ground of weed & root

These steps have been made from my old patio & some bricks that were used for a hard standing in front of the shed. Hopefully, the weather will be fine tomorrow so I can carry on with the path around the pond.

This gave me a bit of a shock. when I was laying out the rocks, this fella showed it's face. In the picture below you can see it looking at the water

Things are coming together now. Laying the pathway & gravel. Not as easy as it looks.

Disaster

I had a leak from the stream & the liner was being forced up to the surface. This meant that the stream had to be removed in order to get at the underlying water. There's a lot of heavy rocks to lift & pebbles to remove, not to mention the mud in the area. Having done that, the next thing was to get the water away, so, remove the pump from it's housing & place it under the liner, then get My Good Lady to switch it on. This was quite a job, as the liner was being pushed back on to the pump, making it a very difficult operation to remove the thing after the water had been taken away. Anyway, the job was completed which meant that the stream had to be reconstructed. A new bed liner was cut & laid into place. The large stepping stone was replaced & three rocks replaced the single at the fall end. The pump was left running for 24hrs to make sure things were operating as they should. 

This is the new stream looking from the top of the garden. Nothing ever goes back to where it came from, things just don't fit do they? It's like a very heavy jig-saw with no picture to follow.

 We're getting there... just about, some of the plants still need a home. More gravel to lay around the stepping area.

 

The Header pond. I have yet to connect the statue to the system

The Bird bath. The sparrows & blackbirds love this They visit several times a day. We also get the occasional pigeon as well plus a few starlings.

The patio extension.This was to give a little more room so when the French doors are open, we will not be too crowded. The pile of slabs where the barrel used to be is just to have somewhere to keep them tidily until I can get to the second half of the garden  where the shed will be taken down & be replaced by a summer house. Until then that is where they will stay. We have planted a few salad herbs to colour up the area .

Pooh Bear. A water feature, originally running from a small pump in the barrel, now it is fed by gravity from the header pool. The barrel had to go as there was too much rot in the timber, As a lined water feature/herb garden which was the original idea, the lifespan would not have been long enough to warrant the conversion. Still Pooh looks to be happy enough there.