- Aug 8, 2022
- 3 min read

2. Working progress

Updated: Apr 30, 2023

To move forward……

once the access road was in place, discussions started to shift towards the preparation for grass.

It was the right season and we didnt want to miss the chance and waste another year.

In reality, we were so far from actually seeding. A little Naive on our part.

We wanted at least some sections seeded to give us the best chance of nice grass the following year but this was going to just make other tasks more difficult.

Really we had only just started with the messy part.

There are the correct steps to take and in certain orders.

No point having nice level ground to then trample over it with a tractor getting the cabin in place or digging up sections for services etc etc. Was best to wait till everything else was 100% complete.

So we took this time to hardcore the rest of the road and make the carpark area, which will also house the electric and water treatment system.

We wanted something a little different and had seen boulder retaining walls whilst scrolling the web for ideas and also during working in Norway. They are everywhere in Stavanger.

The problem was, any website we could find selling boulders were crazy expensive, I mean ridiculous really.

Up steps Ewan, our groundwork contractor. Coincidence or pure luck for us, he could supply us with huge boulders that he had collected over the years from local farmers fields.

Basically nobody wanted them. We do!!!

We love them, I (Stuart) prob like them a little too much and would have them everywhere if I could.

At the top of the ever growing to do list (once the diggers returned), was the remaining groundworks, foundations, trenches for services and sewage system.

Not all of this work was carried out the same month. It spanned across a few months, due to costs, weather and availability of the contractors.

Our planning was good but not always that good so time was lost between visits.

To be honest there was always something to do. So the delays were not that critical we just progressed other areas.

like making the paths around the existing apple trees.

We cracked on with clearing the site of what felt like millions of dead branches and willow trees, also moving the old drystone wall from the roadside and rebuilding along the new access road.

Another first for us but it looks quite good. a little wonky at places but Rustic is what we wanted, nice excuse anyway.

Like mentioned before, We wanted to do as much as possible ourselves. However, a professional digger driver could clear out the site far quicker than me hiring the equipment. (As we hadn’t done anything like that before)

And with the groundworks, it is nice to have it done right, you don't want to be digging things up again once its all nicely grassed over.

Although, with the big guns tackling the larger sections we did hire a small digger and prepped the more manageable sections. The more we could do the better.

It became a huge learning curve for us and the plan had to adapt a few times. Even with the best plans things will have to change.

Whilst the diggers were on site we also used them to place the remaining large boulders and make decorative mounds either side where the cabin would sit to add some interest and privacy and a little shelter, also a good place to hide all the spoil from the groundworks.

The carpark was finished up with some of the 100’s of stones found laying around. Not so easy finding the right ones to fit the gaps but very satisfying when they do. Told you we love boulders

The groundwork ran through the summer months and into autumn. Which started to get very messy.

I know you maybe thinking, its only a small cabin how much groundworks do you need. Well, turns out quite a bit if you are starting from scratch.

Trenches for water/electric, sewage system, soakaway, cabin foundations, access road and a car park to name a few, bare in mind the further away from services or other properties you are the longer the trenches and access roads will be.