Work has finally started on the new office/utility room, and our builder and his team have dug the trench required for the foundation.
The trench is 1400mm deep for the most part, but following the interesting discovery that part of the site was once occupied by the village pond, the remainder is 2100mm deep (about 7 feet). As a result, a large amount of Suffolk clay has been removed from the site, and we have a rectangular hole in the garden with an island in the middle. Perhaps we should build a very small castle in the middle...
The garden, once somewhat uneven grass, is now a sea of mud with duckboards across it to protect the unwary. All in all, it does resemble Ypres 1916, with the reassuring difference that there is an absence of barbed wire, shellholes and dead bodies. I half expect Tony Robinson to turn up with the 'Time Team' crew.
Excavation has also thrown up an interesting collection of Victorian glassware, some of which we will probably clean up and put on display as a reminder of the work that has gone into the building project.
Today, vast amounts of concrete arrive, to be poured into the trench. And so, by the time I get home on Wednesday evening, we should be well underway.
You should try getting a West Highland Terrier.
ReplyDeleteYour garden may look like the trenches, but mine looks like no-man's land!
That 'victorian glassware' might include some surprisingly valuable bottles - it may well be that the village pond was filled with refuse at some stage. Take a look on ebay; most bottles are common and worthless but a few can fetch hundreds of pounds.
ReplyDelete