In the nick of time the new drainage is complete.  Just as the heavens have started to open and we look forward to a week of mild but wet weather coming up. After a week of hard graft by the landscapers the retaining wall is in and another list is ticked off the Domestic Executive site development list.

The transformation of the front outlook is amazing.  It actually looks like a place of residence now rather than a cutting in a clay hillside and we’ve got a very neat and discrete drain at the gate to funnel in the water and take it away from the bush instead of down the garden and into the chicken pen.

I’m not sure why I ever thought we’d be able to DIY this.  It’s been a huge amount of work with two landscapers on site for a week.  Working in all sorts of weather to complete their work.

The day before this man was wearing shorts and complaining about the heat.  But not on this day, it was cold and wet. So cold he started to loose the feeling in his hands.  That’s not what you need when you’re handling power tools, especially one of these nail guns.  These landscapers are made of tough stuff though, they can take whatever the weather throws at them.

I hoped at this point that this drainage was going to do the job.

There is one of these behind the retaining wall and an even larger one in front that will carry the rainwater run off from the drain.  See how neatly it fits under the front picket fence.

The wall is not quite as high as I expected it to be although it was measured and we said OK.  But I think it looks great.  A little over basset height but I fear not high enough to keep Fortnum from treating it as a new playpen.

We smartened up the top of the bank and have now seeded it to extend our lawn.  That’s if the birds don’t eat the seed.  It’s been fenced off now to keep the bassets off who as you can see had used it as a mud wrestling place.

You should see my kitchen floor after all that fun that the bassets had playing in the mud.  We’re going to plant this out with more low maintenance plants but also go for plenty of colour too.  It’s a massive area (34 m long) so there’s going to be lots of digging and mulching to do.

Overall I’m really pleased with it.  It was essential infrastructure work to get the drainage sorted.  I’d rather have put the money to my kitchen garden construction but the water damage was getting so bad there was every danger one of the bassets would fall down the ravine.  Not any more they’ve got another long wall to run up and down.

MT was wondering whether we should paint the wall.  I think it’s fine as it is.  It will mellow with age and when the plants are in you’ll hardly know there is a wall there.  For the moment I want to admire the investment and think of the water trickling down through that new drainage pipe.

Oh, it’s the smallest things that give me pleasure!