Do Fence Me In - Building a fence in a sloping garden

Remember that manky, wobbly, broken 'fence' from for example the previous post? Well - it is NO MORE! Work started on Monday to remove the old fence and replace it with: 

1. Concrete fence posts (this was a difficult decision, as we'd have preferred wood, but because the structure has to retain so much soil, we compromised).
2. Jacksons fencing featherboard fence panels and trellis. 
3. Aligned in a straight line.

 

First, it's 'demolition time'. 

 

Then it's 'breaking the eBay 9 inch angle grinder time'. Not to worry, since the thing was too heavy for me and the OH anyway. And it's done a couple of jobs, so kind of paid for itself. 

Just before Lenny started, I had the 'genius' idea that we could lay ducting for a future sauna stove cable along the trench - an ideal opportunity to get the pipe in, without ever having to dig up the garden again. So the OH bought 50 metres of electric cable ducting (gawd knows what we're going to do with the leftover half), and in the photo below you can see it already in place along the first two panels.

We'll also lay hazard warning tape to lie a spade depth above the ducting - in case someone plans to dig along the boundary in a 100 years' time. The idea is that you hit the warning tape first before you chop through the ducting and cable.

The whole thing makes our garden look rather posh! As if we'd won the lottery, like the couple from Coulsdon earlier this week.

What you can't see here, is the overgrown buddleia bush and the small elderflower tree that are no more (because they stood bang on the border). Now it's a bit like the death strip between East and West Berlin in the Cold War, but I'm already dreaming about what to plant here (David Austin climbing rose, medlar tree, passion flower...).

Here you can see the other side. With hindsight, we could have put a longer panel into the second section. Too late for now, but in theory, you can always slot these back out and change stuff around (which we intend to do - Ed.)

 

 

Tea break. 

Aha. Here comes the building inspector. 

 

Did we pass? 

 

This is how it all looks after four days of work by Lenny and the OH. 

 

Clearing up before it rains. 

 

Meanwhile, I've build a sweet pea tipi in our other neighbours' garden (with permission). Probably to combat the super straight work that's going on with the monster, mega, over-engineered luxury fence. 

David says it looks like the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, the world's most luxurious hotel.