Building patios

This week has been a real tough one - we are all completely done in.

The week started with a patio in the middle of Newbury. Not only did we have to cope with the normal problems of working in town, but then the added problem of parking and site access added to the trauma!

I recently bought a really great all round flat bed trailer with all the cage sides etc and ramps to cater for just about every eventuality from Reading based Indespension.

I must say, the manager Ron was really brilliant - he knew exactly what I wanted as a gardener/landscaper and also did a good deal. I literally drove to Richfield Avenue, looked at the stock he had (which was pretty impressive I must say), then did the deal. I had to wait about an hour for the PID to be completed but then hooked up and away with it. Great service chaps!

Anyway, before I went off on one, the only issue is reversing into impossible gaps with a trailer....God it drove me mental so I was stressed before the start!

It had been a few weeks since I had seen the site, but I couldn't believe how much it had grown - trees and bushes seemed to be everywhere..so we set about clearing the area.

All went reasonably well but as with all these jobs, things happen to change this once you get started. The main tree we wanted to save as a feature ended up having such shallow roots that we decided rather than dig down to get our area level, we needed to add a small retaining wall to raise the level instead.

This meant getting some bricks. There was no way I was going to attempt the reversing again so decided to send one of the lads up to Jewsons with a wheelbarrow....how they laughed and took the Mickey as Rick trundled through the security barrier with a barrow loaded with bricks! If only I had more time and less stress we all could have had a load of fun at Rick's expense - I could have sent him back for a long weight, a left handed screwdriver, some sky hooks etc.

As it turned out, the patio looked great, we had a few late nights getting it finished on time but the customer was delighted.

I didn't remember the camera for the before - but the after shot looks pretty good.