clearing the sheds

goes on for ever, inner circles of dirt/slip and glaze splash/limewash crumble/cobweb. then one suddenly notices the filthy state of all the windows, never before thought of.

my veg garden is full of sunflowers this year. a very long time ago I grew sunflowers up here. they were a bit bigger that time.

then I had all these sheds pulled down and rebuilt. they were put up originally on the site of an old post mill which is documented by an auction notice from 1845 (on a website about Norfolk mills). the previous owners, the Hudsons, kept seven sows and their offspring, a pony and chickens in them. plus one of the sheds was especially for onions, equipped with shelves. they were fascinating, made with old doors and windows, bits of wood from Reg Hudson’s forestry job, and corrugated iron from when part of Stiffkey army camp was dismantled. a few bicycle chains helped to hold things together, plus an enormous number of nails. but they were leaking when I got them. I definitely bought the house because of the garden and sheds though.

charming as they were, the roofs had gone, and they were unusable in the winter.

this was the first to go, the old chicken shed. I got some nasty flea bites from the straw in there.

the long range of sheds were the last, except that the one on the end became my kiln shed and had some alterations before anything else was done, and basically was the inspiration for the rest.

the big studio was the next to be sorted out, with three panels of double glazing in the roof. I had a contact who worked for a hardwood conservatory company in Aylsham, and he retrieved several useful things which would have been skipped, like the huge doors which are a little twisted and let a bit of cold wind through when it’s from the East, and the roof lights. now I am giving up all this space I have been cleaning it out, and realising that it’s better to do a regular clean and not have a box of pigments lurking under your plan chest, entirely forgotten and the paper packaging eaten by mice. weirdly this shed suffers from house mice, whereas the house only gets visits from wood mice. the local vermin controller did a good job on them three years ago, but then left for Scotland. however, the first to die are always the voles, and if you are using poison it’s not good for our barn owls. Bimba found several almost dead voles in the garden.

on a happier note, going through the old stuff one always finds treasures, like this sketch book from my last year at Corsham.

after two storms the garden is not looking too wonderful, but I had a lovely second flowering from all the roses, and the dahlias are, as seen doing their thing. I don’t understand why the red ones I bought produce these purple flowers.

the wind is currently giving everything a good thrashing, so I am not sure my sunflowers will be upright now.

you can see photos of the long range of sheds being rebuilt in my blog here

 

 

One Comment

  1. Lovely memories and photos and history of your sheds……you should include how you used to sleep in the big studio on hot summer nights. Very good luck with it all. Xxxx

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