Our new project House (and rock cave houses)
Discussion
Another local here, who spent a fair amount of time climbing all over the Kinver rock houses way before some of them were restored, so this all looks very familiar.
Earlier on there was mention of turning the caves into a holiday let. There’s one not far away that was restored on Grand Designs that shows what’s possible. https://www.therockhouseretreat.co.uk/
Earlier on there was mention of turning the caves into a holiday let. There’s one not far away that was restored on Grand Designs that shows what’s possible. https://www.therockhouseretreat.co.uk/
Evening all,
A bit of an update, not much of major interest but I decided to start trying to clear the back garden….
View from back of house towards top of garden….
Decided to make a path to the top with a brushcutter…
More progress….
View to the back of the house..
As close to the top as I got..
It was at this point that I had the bright idea of calling “hire it” and getting a flail mower delivered again. My plan was that having cut a path to the top I could now get the mower up there turn it round and let it’s weight do the hard work back down the hill..
“Hire it” brilliant as usual and mower delivered within the hour… and that’s where it all went wrong.
Flail mower went up the hill fine, turned it round and it disappeared down the hill into the depths of the brambles as planned, but wouldn’t come out. Brambles wrapped round it and prevented it reversing out, even with diff lock on and me stood on top to add weight.
I did this three times, and admitted defeat. Amended the plan to include taking the thickness/height out of the brambles with the brushcutter and using the flail mower as a normal mower in lines up and down the hill, mulching as it went.
This proved to be a highly effective plan and more progress was made…
and,
Found an apple tree..
And finally started to see some of the garden as it is meant to be…
And view back down the garden towards the house
Plan for tomorrow is more of the same….
Widen the area cleared by about three metres to the left (as you look up the hill), and clear the bottom fully, unearth the sandstone wall that borders the patio and clear the area fully around the bottom rock houses…
Plan for now is await my KFC from Uber eats, and sleep.
Cheers all
A bit of an update, not much of major interest but I decided to start trying to clear the back garden….
View from back of house towards top of garden….
Decided to make a path to the top with a brushcutter…
More progress….
View to the back of the house..
As close to the top as I got..
It was at this point that I had the bright idea of calling “hire it” and getting a flail mower delivered again. My plan was that having cut a path to the top I could now get the mower up there turn it round and let it’s weight do the hard work back down the hill..
“Hire it” brilliant as usual and mower delivered within the hour… and that’s where it all went wrong.
Flail mower went up the hill fine, turned it round and it disappeared down the hill into the depths of the brambles as planned, but wouldn’t come out. Brambles wrapped round it and prevented it reversing out, even with diff lock on and me stood on top to add weight.
I did this three times, and admitted defeat. Amended the plan to include taking the thickness/height out of the brambles with the brushcutter and using the flail mower as a normal mower in lines up and down the hill, mulching as it went.
This proved to be a highly effective plan and more progress was made…
and,
Found an apple tree..
And finally started to see some of the garden as it is meant to be…
And view back down the garden towards the house
Plan for tomorrow is more of the same….
Widen the area cleared by about three metres to the left (as you look up the hill), and clear the bottom fully, unearth the sandstone wall that borders the patio and clear the area fully around the bottom rock houses…
Plan for now is await my KFC from Uber eats, and sleep.
Cheers all
Edited by CTO on Wednesday 6th October 19:57
Awesome property and thread OP, your posting style and pics are going to have a lot of people following this I reckon.
You've touched on some of the history of the property previously but do you have any idea how long it's been since the house actually had a "garden" rather than a wild mass of brambles? It's clear someone once lavished some love there.
You've touched on some of the history of the property previously but do you have any idea how long it's been since the house actually had a "garden" rather than a wild mass of brambles? It's clear someone once lavished some love there.
K50 DEL said:
Awesome property and thread OP, your posting style and pics are going to have a lot of people following this I reckon.
You've touched on some of the history of the property previously but do you have any idea how long it's been since the house actually had a "garden" rather than a wild mass of brambles? It's clear someone once lavished some love there.
Hi Del,You've touched on some of the history of the property previously but do you have any idea how long it's been since the house actually had a "garden" rather than a wild mass of brambles? It's clear someone once lavished some love there.
This is an aerial shot of the house and garden back when it was cared for….
The slope I was working on today is the lawn (remnants of) at the back of the house…
The photo was taken prior to the previous owners tenure which was 2003 onwards… The cars on the road age it a bit. I think one of them is an old VW Polo Breadvan and the other an old school Renault Twingo? Awaits flaming
My understanding is that the previous owners kept on top of it for a while and it eventually became too much for them. The chap was older than God’s dog tbf but they were both also tighter than two sheets of paper. There is no way they would fork out for someone to do some light maintenance, and now it looks like a jungle…
Cheers all,
Edited by CTO on Wednesday 6th October 20:49
https://thumbsnap.com/sc/Yk8HasJB.jpg[/thumb]
Totally intreagued by the boundaries - which is your bit vs others? I can't work out if the hobbit houses to the right are all part of ours, or if you have the bit on the left and there are neighboring hobbit houses to the right and you have some sort of rock house community =)
Totally intreagued by the boundaries - which is your bit vs others? I can't work out if the hobbit houses to the right are all part of ours, or if you have the bit on the left and there are neighboring hobbit houses to the right and you have some sort of rock house community =)
A brilliant project. My 2p worth 4 what its worth:
You say that one of the caves is listed, but you have plans for a different one. Be a bit careful, because listing applies to the curtileage of the listed building, so includes the whole area, possibly even the house. If you have a stroppy conservation officer they will take a dim view of you doing anything, and they have amazing powers and can make you undo anything they dont like and huge fines - and even a custodial sentence if you dont lie down and let them scratch your tummy. I speak from bitter experience. If they are OK, record everything and email the record back again, because the next person in that job wont take your word for it that you were told it was OK. The old school officers were OK, but I came across one who didnt have reasonable in her vocabulary.
Overgrown garden clearance: Flail mower is OK but a handful as you found. But the best addition to your toybox would be a Grillo Climber. Sometimes you can rent them. A ride on with attitude and huge fun. Not cheap even on ebay. But will just drive through anything, saplings, small children, the lot. Like a go cart. But when cleared - a Husquavanor Rider 4wd ride-on. Goes anywhere, mulches,, easy to clean: brilliant. An alternative to Grillo Climber, is a Grillo walk behind; like an old Allen Scythe, with a lethal front blade. Does the job, probably better than flail and lighter, also self propelled. Just so happens I have one I've been meaning to sell for a year as I have downsized....
Hope this is helpful; best of luck!
You say that one of the caves is listed, but you have plans for a different one. Be a bit careful, because listing applies to the curtileage of the listed building, so includes the whole area, possibly even the house. If you have a stroppy conservation officer they will take a dim view of you doing anything, and they have amazing powers and can make you undo anything they dont like and huge fines - and even a custodial sentence if you dont lie down and let them scratch your tummy. I speak from bitter experience. If they are OK, record everything and email the record back again, because the next person in that job wont take your word for it that you were told it was OK. The old school officers were OK, but I came across one who didnt have reasonable in her vocabulary.
Overgrown garden clearance: Flail mower is OK but a handful as you found. But the best addition to your toybox would be a Grillo Climber. Sometimes you can rent them. A ride on with attitude and huge fun. Not cheap even on ebay. But will just drive through anything, saplings, small children, the lot. Like a go cart. But when cleared - a Husquavanor Rider 4wd ride-on. Goes anywhere, mulches,, easy to clean: brilliant. An alternative to Grillo Climber, is a Grillo walk behind; like an old Allen Scythe, with a lethal front blade. Does the job, probably better than flail and lighter, also self propelled. Just so happens I have one I've been meaning to sell for a year as I have downsized....
Hope this is helpful; best of luck!
Only on PH will someone have a house with caves in the garden 
Kind of reminds me of this place in France https://youtu.be/PEpcG5WEhqY
Kind of reminds me of this place in France https://youtu.be/PEpcG5WEhqY
Thanks for the heads up, Mepht.
Sage advice re the conservation officer. I have a pretty good relationship with ours as I approached them for the OK when having the front of our current property repainted. He was a really reasonable guy but I did keep the emails for posterity should the next one be not quite so reasonable…..
I am hoping that now most of the cutting back is done my days of flail mowers and walk behinds are over but I’ll defo head your way should purchasing one be on the ever increasing garden equipment list!
Progress today, yet more clearance of the back garden. I didn’t take many pics as overslept and it was midday by the time I had got going!
Will maybe try and few before and after pics for comparisons..
Back garden before;
Token pic of me, looking at garden, garden staring back into my soul;
Garden as of today, terraces starting to become apparent;
Not clear enough though as wanted a line of sight to the top, so added this;
And this happened;
Still a bit more to do, but getting there….
Clearer to the side a bit more;
And clearer around the bottom cave a bit more. From this;
To this;
Made a bit more fuel for the fire;
That’s about it for today. Met the lovely lady from the power company who reviewed options for us to move the pole out of the garden, potentially underground from the farmers field next door. Met Dave who looks after peoples poles and talked me through the dangers of ivy on poles (and helped me start my chainsaw which was being a tw@t)
Tomorrow, the day of reckoning has arrived for the yellow stripy gits in the garden. My OH had a go at seeing them off yesterday by flail mowing their nest… they weren’t having that!
Wasp removal man arrives at 10am, presumably with his massive testicles in their own separate trailer behind his van….
Cheers all
Sage advice re the conservation officer. I have a pretty good relationship with ours as I approached them for the OK when having the front of our current property repainted. He was a really reasonable guy but I did keep the emails for posterity should the next one be not quite so reasonable…..
I am hoping that now most of the cutting back is done my days of flail mowers and walk behinds are over
but I’ll defo head your way should purchasing one be on the ever increasing garden equipment list! Progress today, yet more clearance of the back garden. I didn’t take many pics as overslept and it was midday by the time I had got going!
Will maybe try and few before and after pics for comparisons..
Back garden before;
Token pic of me, looking at garden, garden staring back into my soul;
Garden as of today, terraces starting to become apparent;
Not clear enough though as wanted a line of sight to the top, so added this;
And this happened;
Still a bit more to do, but getting there….
Clearer to the side a bit more;
And clearer around the bottom cave a bit more. From this;
To this;
Made a bit more fuel for the fire;
That’s about it for today. Met the lovely lady from the power company who reviewed options for us to move the pole out of the garden, potentially underground from the farmers field next door. Met Dave who looks after peoples poles and talked me through the dangers of ivy on poles (and helped me start my chainsaw which was being a tw@t)
Tomorrow, the day of reckoning has arrived for the yellow stripy gits in the garden. My OH had a go at seeing them off yesterday by flail mowing their nest… they weren’t having that!
Wasp removal man arrives at 10am, presumably with his massive testicles in their own separate trailer behind his van….
Cheers all
Edited by CTO on Thursday 7th October 21:09
Lonoxe said:
Really good thread. I’d be following keenly!
Regarding the 5% Vat, worth you looking into it and you can get a building contractor doing work on the house to do purchases for you with the much reduced Vat in order to benefit…
Builders will be wanting cash in the current situation, so VAT isn't even an issue. Try to get a builder who'll work on the books and you'll never get anything done.Regarding the 5% Vat, worth you looking into it and you can get a building contractor doing work on the house to do purchases for you with the much reduced Vat in order to benefit…
itsmepht said:
A brilliant project. My 2p worth 4 what its worth:
....Overgrown garden clearance: Flail mower is OK but a handful as you found. But the best addition to your toybox would be a Grillo Climber. Sometimes you can rent them. A ride on with attitude and huge fun. Not cheap even on ebay. But will just drive through anything, saplings, small children, the lot. Like a go cart. But when cleared - a Husquavanor Rider 4wd ride-on. Goes anywhere, mulches,, easy to clean: brilliant. An alternative to Grillo Climber, is a Grillo walk behind; like an old Allen Scythe, with a lethal front blade. Does the job, probably better than flail and lighter, also self propelled. Just so happens I have one I've been meaning to sell for a year as I have downsized....
Hope this is helpful; best of luck!
I was going to mention an Allen Scythe. A place I worked (an old boarding school with lots of acreage) wanted to tidy up a large area of brambles and I was earmarked to clear it. We found an old Allen scythe in the back of one of the sheds and got it running. Kind of this vintage:....Overgrown garden clearance: Flail mower is OK but a handful as you found. But the best addition to your toybox would be a Grillo Climber. Sometimes you can rent them. A ride on with attitude and huge fun. Not cheap even on ebay. But will just drive through anything, saplings, small children, the lot. Like a go cart. But when cleared - a Husquavanor Rider 4wd ride-on. Goes anywhere, mulches,, easy to clean: brilliant. An alternative to Grillo Climber, is a Grillo walk behind; like an old Allen Scythe, with a lethal front blade. Does the job, probably better than flail and lighter, also self propelled. Just so happens I have one I've been meaning to sell for a year as I have downsized....
Hope this is helpful; best of luck!
It scared the hell out of me, with its open gnashing blades, but for its age was amazingly effective.
The bonfire we had afterwards with all the raked undergrowth put into a pile was severely epic so OP, I reckon you're in for a great party on November 5! Brilliant thread by the way, thanks for sharing!
BTW itsmepht - at that same job I really wish we had had some of the kit you mention above, I was constantly getting in trouble breaking the ride-on Snapper mower because the belts would break on anything more challenging than bowling green lawn. My favourite was doing the pitches with the old tractor and the cylinder gang mowers though, doing gigantic 12ft stripes, chilling out all afternoon with my sony walkman and a few rollie cigarettes.
Edited by prand on Friday 8th October 08:41
king brilliant thread. Love it.
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