Pride goes before a fall (well, I hope not!)

Oh, I know the old saying but I truly am proud of what Andrew and I achieved last week. You may even be jealous...we made a Patio at the lottie!

For a long time we have wanted an area outside the shed to be able to sit and work on without the wet soil and grass making it all uncomfortable. Plus in the winter this area turns into a little quagmire and we needed to get it sorted before the blasted season returned once more. Further to that, I wanted somewhere I could walk safer (a flatter surface) and which we could put a bed for Maggie on without it getting terribly damp from the bottom up.

We had dilly dallied about this for a while and so finally it came to the crunch and we set to work, it helped greatly that we had free recycled patio slabs from a friend's brother and that pink granite stones were buy 3 bags, get one free at the local nursery. You know, we aren't made of money!!

This is what our patio area around the shed looked like before.....

(Way back in April - damp but some little slabs here and there)

Slabs lifted - work begins

After the above hard work (2 blisters on my hand!, don't go thinking I'm a lady who lets her man do all the hard grafting) - skimming off the turf (= blisters), cutting and laying weed membrane (I did that bit all alone), putting down wooden joists to hold it all together (Andrew's job), placing the slabs and spreading the granite, this is what we ended up with.

I am, as I have said, very proud. I believe it to be delightful and invite you all to come have a cup of tea on our extensive social area. It took Maggie a while but she now likes it too, the pebbles I like to think, remind her of the beach - she's a beach babe, she loves the sea side. I have also installed a new and improved bug hotel on the site and hope for many residents in the winter to come. It is a cosy little establishment and much superior to last years backpackers' hostel.