2010 News
Our en-suite bathroom has been completely modernised, with a new shower and bath,
thanks to Andrew King. The dressing room has also been stylishly upgraded by Paul Leader.
Ahead of the Digital
Switchover in March, all bedrooms are being fitted with
FreeSat TV reception, which gives our guests a
choice of over 140 channels. We have also added
DAB radio with another 20 channels
of music and news.
Last, but not least, we are pleased to announce Guided Tours
by Jon Cannon
2009 News
This year, we've grasped the nettle (literally) and have been busy dealing with
the front hedge. Originally it consisted of an earth bank, with a tangled mix of
overgrown blackthorne and ash, all covered in a large portion of ivy, with lots
of nettle in any available space.
The problems we had to deal with were:
- the ivy covered everything
- the ash was over 8m in places, and starting to block out the evening light
- the earth bank was crumbling and soil was sliding down onto the public
footpath, restricting its width
- we didn't want to make people walk in the
road
- shoveling away the loose soil on the path left a steeper bank, which in turn
encouraged even more soil to crumble and fall, thus exposing more roots, etc
The Sanctuary Ground Force team springs into action.
- Task 1: We started in February, before a new-year's growth started, with some drastic action,
reducing the height of the hedge to 2m.
- Task 2: Improvements to the post & rail and wire mesh fencing. We got some new
posts from HoneyStreet Saw Mill,
and reposted the posts higher in the bank, instead of 1m inside it. This has made the
hedge much easier to prune.
- Task 3: Into March, and more pruning. This time, to clear out a lot of the old
overgrown hawthorne bushes. Trusting on local experts, we're pruning hard, to
encourage new growth at lower levels. By this stage, some trees and bushes are
looking like dead stumps.
- Task 4: April, and just time to get some new bare-root plants, before the
growing season starts. We had a look at the suggestions on the
Communities Gov site, and the
hedge selector table.
We chose a mix of Blackthorne, Dog Rose, Dogwood, Guelder and Rose Wayfarer from Mill Farm Trees At the moment, they
are planted in a nursery bed, so they can build up some root growth while we
carry on.
- Task 5: May, It's Time To Stop The Bank Collapsing. We did think of writing to
the EMF and telling them "Our bank is collapsing, can we have a few billion
pounds?" Instead, it's another trip to
HoneyStreet, this time for 12ft-long
split rails. Nicely fastened to new posts, stacked in four-high sections, they are now holding back the front
bank, The front looks much better, and has given us a good space to back-fill with
fresh earth and compost, ready for the new hedging.