More progress

Yesterday (Saturday) Shaun and the Community Payback Team completed the paths and they look great. They have barrowed another 16 tonnes which has provided a firm and hard wearing surface. 

In addition I cleared around 150 self set trees and used some of the stems to provide small sections of screening by basket weaving them through stakes.

Today (Sunday) John Highton and I cleared some of the tall hawthorn trees to the rear of the wood. The trees, which had grown to a considerable height, used to form the hedge but obviously has not been managed for 60/70 years. John used his chain saw to cut then down to a manageable height and then laid the remaining trunk. 

This has really opened the wood up and will provide daylight and allow the evening sun light to shine through the wood. I am going to fill in the gaps with some more hedging.

In the photograph above you can clearly see the paths in the distance meandering through the wood.

In the photograph below you can see the view across the fields. It  would be a great spot for another bench especially if it was situated looking north west rather than this westerly view. This would provide a full picture of Singletons parkland.

And finally to end todays post I took the opportunity to take a picture of a bunch of daffodils close to where John and I had been working. the daffodils are in full bloom and most of which have been donated by Jim Pawson and planted over the last 5 years.

Final steps

We are getting close to arranging an opening event for the wood and it is being planned for early May. In order to get ready we have started to apply the top surface to the paths. As the original foundation hardcore went down 2 years ago I had to clear leaves and twigs which had been rotting away in order to the top surface to be laid.

Singleton Dumbreck Trust kindly donated money for the top surface and i calculated that i would need 17 tonnes which was confirmed by a local builders merchants! This was delivered on Friday 28th March.

As you can see this provided an instant playground for a couple of local juveniles namely Millie and Tommy K. The Community Payback team volunteer their services and laid the 20 tonnes in around 5 hours helped by Tommy.

The surface was compacted down and provides a smooth path to also allow wheel chair access.
The only problem was that I had underestimated the amount of stone by about 12 tonnes!

Whilst the Payback team were laying the path I took the opportunity to clear many of the elderberry tress therefore allowing the young trees and woodland flowers to grow.

The next steps are to finish the top surface which the Community Payback Team are doing next week. Then we plan to sort the hedge at the rear of the wood and clear some of the undergrowth and finally paint the lych gate. As soon as we confirm the date of the opening it will be advertised in the Parish news letter and this blog.