With Natalie sunning herself in Tenerife on a 'girls holiday' we were joined by Loz and Mimi, friends of Ben and Rachael respectively.
Despite leaving on a Friday evening we couldn't have timed it worse and picked the busiest Saturday of the year to travel through France!
A tortuous 18 hour drive from Calais covering a massive 980 miles in all including an extra 140 in an effort to avoid the jams.
We finally arrived in the late afternoon after a quick shop at the CONAD supermarket in Vallecrosia. The journey over, I was interested to see how Andrea and Lorenzo had progressed with the West wall. I wasn't disappointed with the progress!
The 2.4m high stone wall now extending 20 metres up the track. What a difference from before, with the whole of the untidy bank behind now hidden.
Before:
After:
During the time we were there I met with Federico Allavena to discuss our soft landscaping options. The main talking point involved the question of whether the lawn element is created using turf or grass seed. It didn't take me long to decide that since we are near the season end and under less pressure to complete, that the cheaper 'seed' option is the most likely way forward.
The next job though is to have a couple of olive trees moved, the stump you can see in the picture above removed and some earth moved to shape the slope to the lower wall and back-fill the new walls. After that our plumber will install the irrigation system before tons of top soil are delivered to the site and an area adjacent to the patio is prepared before seeding.
Once the area to be grassed is down, the slope to the wall will be planted in a fashion typical of the area.
We're getting there...
