Summer's lease

Results have been a little thin on the ground during the summer, though I have been working on the fence panels that I can't install until I can find a satisfactory wood treatment. 

However, I've done a rotating door for our chickens - these ones and their less attractive friends:


 

The new door was needed as Jean-Pierre's dog Champion was finding his way into the henhouse and eating the eggs. I can't complain too much as I am pretty sure that the dog keeps the foxes away quite effectively.

Here's the new door open



and shut:

 

The drop-down bar on the right locks the door in the "shut" position, and I have every hope that it is fox-proof.

I've consolidated the top of the wall in the hangar. Before, leaning a ladder against it was sure to dislodge a stone or two at the top.




It's annoying that the cement-based mortar is a different colour from the old lime mortar, but at least it holds the stones together. And hopefully it will keep some of the draughts out of my workshop on the other side of the wall.

I also had a go at a short stretch of the wall separating us from Jean-Pierre's field. Before, it didn't even look much like a wall:



I think it had been used as way through from the field by various animals, ranging from cats, dogs and chickens up to full-sized cows.

I took it down as much as possible and cut out some of the roots of the ash tree, and now it looks like this:



The picture doesn't do it justice, as it isn't just a loose pile of stones. It's pretty vertical, quite stable, and makes a fairly regular line. With a bit of luck it'll stay that way. I think you can see that it is sitting on a bit of the bedrock, so it has a good enough foundation.