First clearance complete

So enough of the scenery (more to come) and back to the story...

By 30th August 2004, the first clearance was complete (second actually if you include the junk we took out of the garden when we first bought it).

We had also pruned the trees and shrubs which overhung the barn, in anticipation of erecting scaffold for the roof. This included removing the honeysuckle which over the years had become fused with the roof, sending roots and shoots under the slates, into the wall and under the ridge tiles.

It was evident that the roof of the old block lean-to was poorly built and on the point of collapse. After cleaning off the sheets of moss and accumulated debris, the old slates were recovered carefully.

These hand cut "randoms" as they are called were various sizes - some nearly 30" x 18" - but were stacked carefully to be reused on the new roof - pitched to match the line of the roof (about 115 deg).

What also became apparent was that when the overgrowth was removed, the exposed dry stone wall adjacent to the barn (the sheep fold), was dangerously unstable and crumbling. So the summer of 2005 was a time of rebuilding the wall. This was the first major construction job as the farmers needed the walls stable and tall, so they could control the sheep while being herded up the mountain.

Before:

After: