Hoeing And Mowing And Shovelling and Raking!

5 tonnes of gravel

I've had some pretty tough days up at NC over the last six months, but yesterday came close to beating most of them into a cocked hat! Hoeing to start with in the round border which was covered with forget-me-not seedlings, all of which had managed to grow in amongst the other plants which meant hand weeding them out, a somewhat laborious process. Then two hours of mowing followed, this time I was using the petrol mower, much harder to manoeuvre than the tractor and you have to mow around all the apple trees which is awkward, so I've ended up with a pair of matching blisters on my thumbs from holding the power bar down. After a much needed lunch break the four of us then had to shovel and rake five tonnes of gravel around the courtyard and under the new hornbeam hedge-phew! I have only one complaint about all this physical toil, my legs,arms and bottom are firm and toned but no amount of exercise seems to make an impact upon my middle aged tummy!

"The highest reward for a persons toil is not what they get for it , but what they become by it"
                                                                                                                                John Ruskin

The finished product

Its all right for some!