<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/garden-front-view-12-july.gif"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3659" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/garden-front-view-12-july-300x225.gif" alt="garden-front-view-12-july" width="300" height="225" /></a>I should have said in the previous post that although it was my "Day 1" Caitlin has been on site for over a week preparing the ground and overseeing the contractors. They are long exhausting days, starting at 8 am and leaving site at 7 pm which takes its toll on an old, unfit body like mine. This is how the garden looked at the start of the day with the main characters in place but the paths and water feature had yet to be completed and the planting along the back corner against the hedging yet to start.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Helene-Caitlinjul16.gif"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3658" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Helene-Caitlinjul16-300x225.gif" alt="Helene-+-Caitlin(jul16)" width="300" height="225" /></a>

Caitlin is seen here considering the planting options with Helene, her mum.

Perfection isn't achieved overnight and so it all takes time. Like all projects there is a lot of detail to be considered and I spent a lot of the day washing slate ready for the pond - there's over a tonne of the stuff. Any dirt on the slate and the water would not be crystal clear which would lose points.

It's a long time since I've done an 11 hour day and even then it was behind a desk, not humping bags of slate and plant pots around. Tomorrow's another day...