Stonewalling

We bought the barn at Poulet ten years ago. In some respects it was a barn.

In other respects it was a pile of stones...

..with a fabulous view.

An autumn evening

During the building process we generated two massive piles of stone from bits of the barn that had fallen down and were not going to be rebuilt, and from the 20 metre  manger which was just surplus to requirements what with not having any cows an' all...

20 metres of stone manger

The bits of barn pile

The manger pile

After five years these two piles had been moved a total of five times, twice by machine and three times by hand. The hand-balling confirmed that I did not want to move them again. So I started 'building' things so that at least they would look deliberate and I would not have to move them again.

I started with the manger pile and built very low wall which started out as a visual reinforcement of the path which divides the meadow - but also turned out to be quite useful as the start of more extensive terracing.

Not very elegant but it works

There was still a lot of stone left so I constructed a septic tank cosy, thus using more stone and hiding the cuvee de merde.

The septic tank cosy, under (mainly) geraniums

But there was still some left and I was not going to take it very far. Looking around I thought the adjacent telephone pole could do with some protection.

Telephone pole cum lighthouse foundation

The second pile was by the road and taking up the only shady place where we could keep the car out of the sun. Most of this pile was rearranged into half a gateway and later into a... what? I don't know, I don't want it to become a flower bed but Mrs. PJ may have different ideas. I prefer to think of it as a very regular pile of stone.

Half a gateway? Flower bed? Pile of stones? Who knows?

The last of the bits-of-barn pile is in the process of becoming another terrace wall.

Work in progress

When this wall is finished I will have just about run out of stone - which is a pity as I am beginning to like the stuff, especially now that I know how to move it without breaking my back and can put it up so that it stays up.

Of course the whole of Chicken Hill is made of stone, so I suppose all I have to do is dig up some more.

I'm not sure I am quite that enthusiastic...