Our outside eating area is evolving. We now have a fire to cook on, a pan and pot to cook with and a table with some chairs.
Eating however, can be slightly precarious as behind the table is a nice drop into thigh high nettles and brambles. After a bottle of two of red wine, in the dark, this can be a serious problem.
In October, we came up with a cunning plan to build a hedge from our own hazel (highlighted to emphasise the relative excitement of this token of self-sufficiency).
Tom and I went in search of some nice hazel poles. Up the field, navigating past the horses, is a nice coppice of hazel and chestnut trees. It was just as we approached with hacksaw in hand, that 2 small wild boar came rushing out. Luckily, Indie (our v energetic lurcher) was not with us at the time or we would have all be tanking off up the field to the . They went so fast, we didn't manage to get a picture. There are a lot of wild boar in our woods, but we havn't seen any so close to the house. We often see the beaver like Coypu, which can get to the size of beavers around the river banks, and also deer.
Anyway, we cut about 30 poles from the hazel and stripped them ready to build our fence. We dragged it back and Tom knocked in some chestnut sticks from the top woods he had cut in the summer. He wove the hazel through the chestnut poles and made a beautiful fence.
It looks lovely, and is a fine border to our field kitchen. No more near misses after one too many on a dark night now.
