Cambridge Landscape Works

I have been constructing both a front and rear garden in Cambridge. The gardens which have been designed by Kerrie at The Garden Design Company. They seemed simplistic to construct so off i went.The front garden which entailed an amount of excavation went according to plan and time scale. A full 2.1m long solid Oak Sleeper deck stretching the width of the front of the house. This sits above a square border edged in oak. Kerrie has planted up and the garden is now decorated in a pearly quartz gravel to highlight the grasses etc Kerrie has planted. As usual there was the gas main and electrical mains meter box to contend with but they fell into the construction quite neatly, phew. A natural sandstone path with paving and setts was installed as the main access to the front door. The last couple of sleepers should be put into place tommorrow, why, well BT, there was so many cables coming out of the ground that BT had to come and rewire the telephone lines into the main house. A couple of bags of gravel and hey presto a beautiful place to people watch as students and dog walkers rush by over Mid Summer Common. Great free few of the fireworks next week.Now the rear garden. The house has undergone a major refurbishment, primarily down stairs. Open plan, tiled floors the works and it is lovely. Kerrie's idea for the rear was raised planters rendered, painted white with lights both in the planters and along one side of the flooring. Widen the steps upto the rear car parking area and a rendered wall to hide the bins. All has gone pretty much to plan. The new soak away was put in by the builders along with a drainage gully along the front of the rear glass doors which slide open to the full width of the house. The footings were built and so came the raised planters and wall etc. Plasters in tommorrow to render the planters.The flooring on the other hand was slightly more difficult. The customer wanted to continue the tiles in the kitchen/downstairs area through into the garden but the garden floor was 6" below the door sill. And after consultation with the builder and tiler it was requested that at least a 4" bed of concrete was required for the tiles to prevent movement cracking etc. No worries. Infilled a few inches with MOT and was nearly ready for pouring the concrete. But the customer was in a bit of a hurry due to an impending house warming and wanted it sooner than i was ready. But hey ho managed to get the concrete poured yesterday semi screeded and covered to prevent frost damage. Arrived on sit today and the builder say "the concrete is too high by about 6mm", my mojo went west. So today i have spent with hammer and bolster and most of the day chipping about 6mm of concrete off the top so the tiler an latex and apply and adhesive next week etc. Lost skin from nuckles, fingers and now have a right arm like popeye.Now the question is, are we nearing the end? Yes. This will ultimately be a grand design on a small scale and will post bthe photo's on completion.The morale i have found on this job is to carry out works when you are ready and sure of the requirements, not to be hurried into something when you are not 100% you have all eventualities covered.

"It's interesting though how many customers see any creature within their garden territory as an intruder .
Fear of the unknown perhaps ?
Must admit though the unfortunate label of slow worm does them no favours . "

Had a brief chat with a once a year customer , where I just cut his knee length grass down . I happened to mention the abundance of wildlife in his garden , and that last year I saw some slow worms basking in the sun.He looked at me and replied " Oh…

"no expert on this but the safty switch on the seat will not allow any power to the starter unless you are sat on it or bypast. Ihave come accross other switches on the deck if ther is a removable flap
is the earth on the starter ok "

Comments

Kerrie John-The garden design Co October 30, 2008 at 6:45pm

Sorry it went from bad to worse Dale and thanks for laying the quartz, couldn't manage the weight of wheelbarrow and gravel up and down the steps on my own yesterday.

I had better crack on with the planting then!

p.s. are we and the builders invited to the party?
PRO

Craig McGinty October 30, 2008 at 7:41pm

>> So today i have spent with hammer and bolster and most of the day chipping about 6mm of concrete off the top so the tiler an latex and apply and adhesive next week etc. Lost skin from nuckles, fingers and now have a right arm like popeye. <<

And you deserve hearty applause for sitting down and writing this post after doing all that in the chilly weather!!!

Looking forward to seeing the pics.
Daniel Johnson III November 8, 2008 at 4:36pm

ah - and not being hurried AND being paid for the time ... either in the first place or to fix what you were hurried into, that'd be great

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