A new Door

This morning we had a new door fitted by Paul of Eco glaze home improvements ( See review ) The old door fitted badly, let in huge draughts and was a security risk, so we were both glad to replace it, and Paul did a marvelous job for us

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Ready for the winter

It is cold and frosty here in the Forest of Dean and today we had a large load of logs delivered. We used Ian again from http://www.woodlandenergyfirewood.co.uk/  Moving and stacking them was very hard work, but we now have plenty of wood for the winter. Ian also used his chainsaw tosaw up the remains from the ghastly pine tree we had …

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Videos

I should have the firewire card fitted to my pc this week. I have some fantastic videos that have never been published as for the last 6 months, I have been unable to get them onto my pc so it will be a great relief to be able to get at them again. In addition I’ll be able to start …

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Testing compost activator

Trying out compost activator in my bins As this is a brand new garden, compost is particularly important. I am using 2 slatted wooden bins to create and store the compost. Today I have turned the heap from 1 bin to another and every layer was sprinkled with the compost activator from Soilfixer. It will be interesting to see how …

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First year in retirement in the Forest of Dean

Well, today marks a full 12 months since I retired. It has been very eventful. We have sold our house in Churchdown, bought this little cottage in the Royal Forest of Dean, installed a wood burning stove and created a brand new garden. Cinderford has turned out to be a delightful little town full of small local business with lots …

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Compost in the vegetable garden

Treating the soil in a new garden I have created a double bin for the garden compost to make it easier to turn. I can turn the old one into the empty bin before creating the new compost heap. Regular visitors will know that we only moved here in June, so everything was late and done in a hurry so …

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Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean

This weekend wild boar have again churned up part of St John’s graveyard. We have seen a lot of problems lately and a new group has been set up called The Boar Solution Forum to try and get some solutions. Personally I would be sad to see them go so let us hope that finally we can learn to live …

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Cinderford – The foodie capital of the Forest of Dean ?

I see that Camerons have opened a new shop at their old premises. When we made the move down the street with the Cinderford butchers store we were adamant the old shop where it all began wasn’t going to turn into another takeaway shop, the idea was to turn it into a wet fish/seafood outlet and bring with it our …

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The joys of a wood burner

Now the weather is getting colder, both Vanda and I are thoroughly enjoying our wood burning stove. It did cost a fair bit, but I think it was well worth it. The heat is wonderful and controllable. The stove we bought is designed to be used with the doors open or shut, so when they are open you have in …