The weather is miserable raining and cold. While there is building work going on in the house we decided to start clearing a woodland view. First, we began clearing back the brambles to reveal the ground floor of the wood store. The wood store is built into the side of the hill with the upper area facing the farmhouse. The lower level has a cute door open to the woodland. This used to be where the farmer kept a couple of pigs.
The whole stone building was covered in brambles with trees growing out of the roof! We even found a door leading to an extra room which is off shot from the wood store. This is currently filled with old bicycles including an old Valovap that we discovered back in August 2019.
We dream that one day this place will become a pleasant shady spot to enjoy a cup of tea and watch the woodland wildlife. After reviewing the trees we found that most are fallen, regrowing, or rotting and need clearing to reveal what was once a useful paddock for a few farm animals.
To return this to a useable natural area we need a plan. Here is my expanding list so far.
Clearing A Woodland view work list
- Cut back the brambles sprawling along the ground and get back to a manageable bramble hedging for birds and small animals to take cover and feed
- Cut back the ivy and remove it from the suffocating the trees
- Clear the spoil pile and landscape the area to the right of the wood store
- Remove the fallen trees from the stream and enable the stream to flow better
- Create a bog garden to encourage more wildlife
- Rebuild the dry stone wall that has fallen down
- Work with the tree surgeon to reduce trees and trim back deadwood. Providing more space for the lime tree and chestnut tree
- Process the fallen trees into firewood. Chop to size and store in the wood store to season
- Mill the huge ash tree felled in 2019 to create the flooring for the barn
- Update the composting bins making them easy to manage and store
- Create a pathway and encourage more wildflowers
- Create a woodchip terrace with a comfortable place to sit and admire the view
- Possibly introduce chickens and beehives
‘Clearing a wooland view’ slide show pics before and after
Clearing a woodland view started again this January in the snow. It really felt like being in a snowglobe, everything silent other than the lazy stream. It’s amazing to feel warm using the fule of sweet tea and cake to power through the brambles. We know the vegetation will soon spring back up and creep towards the wood store but we are determined to get on top of the seasonal tasks of managing the land and making this a lovely place for us and wildlife to cohabit. The more we prepare in the winter the easier it will be in the summer. That’s what I’m hoping for.
It’s been good to see a few questions and likes from people cheering us on around the world. We originally started the blog to keep a record for ourselves and to keep friends and family updated on our adventure. We have added a youtube channel and we both regularly post on Instagram to show our progress. It’s amazing to look back. Thank you for liking or sharing our pages we have lots of exciting plans for the future for more of you to visit, take part or have a little piece of the adventure at Le Chassaing.
Little did we know that working on this project and clearing a woodland view would be our saviour of lockdown and its been a pleasure to share the adventure with you. For now, we keep progressing to make the place more homely and inhabitable to share and we eagerly await the spring. The daylight is lasting a little longer and the bulbs are peeking out.
