This time last year - The Top Patio

Hi there everyone😀

Since the beginning of May my Timehop and Facebook pages have been bombarding me with memories of this time last year, when we were in the throes of having some pretty heavy work done in the garden.

Before the works started I published this post, giving an idea of how things looked back then and what our plans were.

Looking at the garden now it's very easy to forget how it was at the height of the works being done and now seemed as good a time as any to share the progress we've seen over the last year with you.

I took lots of photographs whilst the works were in progress so I thought it might be good to do a before, during and after post of each area of the garden, starting with the top patio which used to look like this ...

The plans for this patio were for it to be extended down a bit further into the garden and fully repaved with a colourful Indian sandstone. We were also having a new brick planter built along the back wall of the house, a new gate and shallower steps up into the garden and some tidying up of the drain.

Before any of the garden works could start we had to have some repairs made to the external render, which really started a period of chaos ...

Once the render repairs were completed works on the garden could begin. The works to improve this patio were not without incident. We had lots of rain, an incorrectly fitted soil pipe, the discovery that the old grey slabs were laid on top of a layer of crazy paving which, in turn, was laid on top of the old concrete yard, leading to lots of issues in excavating the drain. Added to that an incident with the Stihl saw leading to a hospital visit it was a fairly stressful time.

Here is a bit of the journey we went through ...

Old slabs taken up and new shape starting to be seen

The existing side bed will stay but will need to be built up

Footings going in for the retaining wall for the extended patio area

In spite of the mess these delphiniums just keep on flowering

Starting to see the new shape

Starting to excavate the drain, which needs to be raised to the level of the new paving

The bottom of the gate was the level of the old patio, it was one hell of a step down

Yay!!!!! Slabs!!!

More slabs, steps and some brick facing

Beginning to see how it will look

Surely we are getting there now?

Delphiniums are still looking good

My favourite bit so far

It looks fabulous wet

Time to build a planter

And some steps

My new favourite bit

Finishing off the planter

We are definitely nearly there now

July 2017 - BBQ Ready

So there you go, that's what we went through to get the top patio as it is looking today ...

We have been pretty busy since the landscapers left ...

We have given the arbor a makeover

Added slate chippings around the edges and have a brand new gate

Planted up the raised bed in a bit of a purple theme

Planted up Martin's mum's old bread pansion with succulents which have not only survived the winter, but are actually flowering

We have added this plantstand, planted with more succulents, ferns and seasonal bedding

Re-planted the side bed with a mixture of spring bulbs and evergreen perennials

It is really starting to look good with plenty of colour and interesting bits and pieces to catch your eye. This is the view from my kitchen door as of today ...

And this is the view looking down the garden ...

If you've made it this far, well done and thank you for sticking with it, I know there were lots and lots of pictures, but I am so glad that I've captured this journey that we've been through with this part of the garden. 

Overall we are really pleased with how it has turned out and, whilst there are still a few bits and pieces that we want to add or finish off, we are really looking forward to spending lots of time out there over the summer 🌞🌞🌞

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