WHAT DO YOU THINK, THIS ONE OR THAT ONE.

I am merely going by my eye @ARMANDII, but the Burnt Ochre just looks 'right' to me. I have always loved your cottage style garden - wish mine could be the same.

 

It's all about the "eye" when deciding colours outside in the garden area, I guess. Most people who have contributed to deciding which colour of setts for my garden have liked the red range as it gives a warm colour. I've still not decided exactly which colour as I've only seen them on the computer screen so I'd rather make a decision when I see the real samples.

 

It is difficult not seeing them in the flesh, and your earlier idea of seeing them wet is a good one. I always liked York Stone - or I thought I did, until they laid a few streets in Richmond with it. It looked great in the summer, when it was new and dry - come the winter, when it was wet and covered in salty water, it looked pretty awful.

 

Well, it's been an appalling day for working outside today, with a maximum temperature of 38f, a strong, gusting wind, with a steady fall of cold rain.........but "Stan" and his guys just kept working on in atrocious conditions The hard core base was finished, followed by a thick layer of gravel which was tamped down with a industrial Compacter. That was followed with a check on the general levels and then re-tamped down with the Compacter. After that a porous membrane was cut and laid over the whole area and is now waiting for Grit Sand to be laid over the top, followed by a layer of paving sand. Stan checked all the drains in the area and, in the freezing cold rain, spent nearly an hour unblocking a Drain that was partially blocked with garden waste, explaining that "drainage was everything" when it comes to sett laying on sand.
I made the occasional sortie out into the wind and rain with hot Tea and Coffee for them all and also a trip to the local Timber Yard to buy the two railway sleepers needed to edge part of the exposed borders. They had a great selection of sleepers and it cost me £50 for the two which included free delivery, but Stan will collect them later today in the Van. I've used this particular Timber Merchant since the 80's and they've been first class, ready to saw timber to size if needed with a joke and a grin, and good advice on what to select, so I'm lucky to have them nearby.
The only "fly in the ointment" is that we've noticed the West corner roof guttering adapter has lifted out of the downpipe so water is not going down the path it should. The gutters were very recently cleared and cleaned by the Window Cleaners and it looks like they didn't replace the adapter when they put it back. They're due in the next two weeks so I'll get them to replace the adapter properly.
Oh, and lastly, I've chosen the Tagula sett colour and, after seeing it dry in the Van and in the wet in the rain, I've chosen....

Tegula Red and Charcoal


When I looked at all the colours in the rain they seemed to stay the same but Red and Charcoal, when wet, seemed to "glow" slightly.The Burnt Ochre sample was a close second but my sense was that Red and Charcoal looked the best in the daylight and rain.
The weather is supposed to be getting better tomorrow, but I'm suspicious of the definition of "better".

 

Day 3 of the new patio started with Stan the Landscaper asking me if I liked Tents? He and his team then proceeded to built a "Tent" over all the hard areas now covered in hard core and gravel using long pipes and long pieces of timber and large tarpaulins. The idea being that they were going to dump tons of sand/grit onto the areas and it couldn't be done properly if the forecast heavy rain came. It should have been an easy task but with wind gusts of up to 35mph it was a battle to hang onto the tarpaulins which were acting like sails. After the "tent" was finally finished the noise from the violent flapping of the tarpaulins was so loud we had to shout to talk to each other!!! But the whole thing looked like a Refugee Camp in my garden.

Even when we got used, after a while, to the noise there would be the occasional loud "crack" that made everyone jump thinking the tent was coming down.
I never realised that leveling large areas of sand took such skill but after today I know that it does. Also, because of the hard areas height being raised by around 4 inches it meant that the present drain gullies for the water from the roof guttering and the Kitchen waste water needed to be raised by 4 inches. That job alone would have taken me all day but both were raised, leveled, and cemented in place within an hour.
All that done, the main job was dumping the grit/sand onto the hard areas and then leveling it to exactly the same required height over all the areas.....not as easy as it sounds believe me. Also the two railway sleepers were cut to the lengths required and are now in place lining the borders and looking as though they have been there years. By the time dark was beginning to fall the leveling was done and the very first setts were laid to see what they looked like after 5 pallets of them had been delivered this morning. So tomorrow is all about laying the setts using the 3 different sizes to make a more interesting pattern. The weather forecast is not good with even higher winds being the main feature.....Oh, joy!!

 

That's exactly what Sean, one of Stan's team, said, Sheal, with an apologetic grin.!! Actually, it's not as bad as I thought it would be and I sleep in the front bedroom well away from the noise. I feel sorry for my Cat, Jenny, as she is going House crazy with not being able to go into the garden since Sunday night. Hopefully, the main work will be done by Friday and she will able to walk of a hard patio instead of one covered in Grit/Sand. Stan and Co would not be pleased to find paw prints all over the soft sand

 

I keep telling her that, Sheal, but she's not listening and when I tell her she can't go out she gives me the cat equivalent of........

 

Hi andrews, I can honestly say that when I had two cats, recently lost one, they never ever fouled in the garden and always used the Cat Litter Trays provided in the House and Jenny the Cat still retains that habit. Most of the Patio and area behind the Garages has been laid with the setts and it's looking great, so tonight Jenny had a sortie out into the garden and came back with a


like the proverbial Cheshire Cat.

 

Yeah, losing Sally was a blow to say the least. She was my "beautiful one eyed monster"

and, I confess, I broke into tears when I lost her. She loved to lie on the Stone Bench in the warm Sun and also no one was allowed on her cushion which my Sister gave her.


So she now lies in the garden under the Stone Bench she loved, lying on the cushion she loved so much. I really do miss my Sally.