Well, we have finally managed to start getting ourselves moving on the various projects that a whole heap of really good reasons stopped us from getting stuck into last year. So this page is the Diary - sort of.

Anna's father, Holger Lindgren, passed away just before Christmas after fighting illnesses for the last few years. It is a real tragedy as he deserved many more years of mischief and would have loved to have seen the castle, which he never managed to do. Latterly he was too ill to travel, and we know that he would have appreciated the lunacy of the whole project, and could have contributed a lot to it. He is, and will be greatly missed by us all.

December 2002 - Kitchen project still at a standstill. Mainly my fault. Nuff said. Burglar alarm is installed. So if there are any robbers reading this, you missed your chance, cos its installed now and its a monster.

January 2003 - New Year party was a success, and particular thanks to the generous bringers of bottles and all those who brought fireworks, which certainly made it go with a bang. Especially the 'ground bursts'. Also, special thanks to 'Champagne' Dave who came up trumps with his Spot the Most Expensive champagne game. Extremely entertaining, although I don't think anyone was in a fit state to remember the result.

Since Time Team and Groundforce are both a little busy these days, and before the garden started the inevitable transformation from its winter state into a raging jungle, we organised a Garden Talkoot [pronounced 'talkot'] (Finnish for "Getting your friends to muck-in and blitz a job, in return for beer and food"). The brave volunteers made a huge impression on the garden, laying waste to hellishly overgrown and desolate areas, and the stubborn remains of some paths. As you might expect, January is not the best time to do this and be guaranteed a warm sunny weekend, but without any [audible : ) ] words of complaint, the team threw themselves into the job, the rain, and the mud.
Thanks chums!         Dirty photos can be found here...

... just after the Talkoot, the snow came - pics

March 2003 - Spring has sprung. We have started the planting of the back garden to try to make it a bit more floral. Some of the established plants survive and are already brightening the place up.We are consciously trying to use older plants that could have been around in the garden around the time it was built, but are not sticking to this completely rigidly, as its quite tricky to do. Gentle nurturing and encouragement is required.

Elsewhere, its the other extreme. Fire and chemical warfare is being waged on areas that got completely out of control last year. Hopefully, there will be a chance to reclaim some of the bits of garden that were totally over-grown last year, in time to plant something nice for this year.

Also, the war on The Slugs has begun. After the miserable and undetectable effects of chemical weapons last year, we have now been forced into trying biological warfare this year! Details here

April 2003 - Off to a good start with the garden. At the moment we look like we are winning the battle against the jungle. Early days, but we're optimistic. The vegetable patch has re-emerged after being buried under weeds and a huge pile of twigs. Not promising CC Produce™ this season but there is hope for the future.

May - August 2003 - Summer has been a mix of complacency (enjoying the garden) and the odd fit of activity. Positive points are that the hard work of the working parties earlier in the year has resulted in a couple of big patches of almost level ground that look as though they could be part of the lawn once the mower has been over them. We know this is just a false sense of achievement but does give us some encouragement to get it finished.

The south field shows exactly what can be achieved with some on-going effort. In March we burned the area to get rid of old weeds and Anna's efforts in keeping the grass mowed for the rest of the season has meant that we now have a pretty good bit of lawn there.

Vegetable patch has disappeared again. Perhaps we may fight this battle next year.

Had I mentioned I hate gray squirrels! From my city boy attitude of "cute little critters with cheeks stuffed with nuts" I've now got to the view that they are the most evil pest on the planet. They have: eaten through two wheelie bins so both now have a squirrel door, reduced the 50 kg (no exaggeration) of horse chestnuts that fall on the drive to fragments (which had we not spent hours picking every last bit up would be a sticky rotten carpet), chewed through the netting on the hen house and made the hens' life a misery by eating and messing with their feed, probably been the cause of untold damage to garden plants, etc. Still can't quite bring myself to start shooting them but its getting close. This final straw would be if they start messing with the house, as I've heard that if they do manage to get in, they chew through cables and can start fires. Lovely.

September - October 2003 Kitchen project may be moving again. Who knows, it may even be started by Christmas! Still my fault. :(

Poorer weather has caused a bit of a slowdown on positive action in the garden. The nice jobs of planting and tending have given way to those sorts of chore that pop up in Autumn and Spring, like clearing gutters and fixing fences, raking leaves, replacing slates, and all that. Clearing more of the wilderness is planned, but we have to be patient and wait a bit longer for nettles brambles and other nasties to begin to give up for the winter.

The plan is to push back the boundaries of the cultivated areas another few metres in all directions. This should mean that all the parts of the garden that can be seen from the house will be under some sort of control and look reasonably tidy. That's the plan anyway. Chop now, then burn in spring.