Magazine Publications and Jan 13th Walk

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/0cfe4a63#/0cfe4a63/2

There's a very well written article with lovely pictures of the house and woodland in this months publication of Homebuiding and Renovating magazine. The link shows part of the article.

There was also a piece in last weekends Scotsman newspaper which was good apart from the rather drab picture of the house in winter.

On the back of the magazine article, we were visited today by a couple from Heriot who live in Borthwick House. They wanted to talk about timber cladding and how it looks and fades with time. It was particularly interesting for me because my grandmother lived in a small white washed cottage in Stagebank, a 10 minute walk down the road from Heriot. From as early as I can remember my sister and I played in the hills and countryside around Stagebank. Often at the railway line! we had natures playground with a "creepy wood", a "bottomless pond" and a trough of water at the foot of the hills where we washed our faces on the 1st of May every year. What a difference to the playgrounds for today's kids.

It's just gone January 13th, the date my dad died at the age of 59 in 1982. I always walk on Jan 13th and this year it co-incided with a walk for the monthly Advertiser feature for Midlothian. Ian called to suggest the Pentlands and a hill climb! Perfect since my dad always liked to climb hills. We had a great day out.

Some of Ian's brilliant photos including 1 of each of us. Just to prove we did it. Boy has the xmas excess and lack of physical exercise wreaked havoc with my fitness level. To say we had a "Pech" is an understatement.

Jim's Mowing - For All Your Garden Works

I used this company recently to get trees and shrubs planted. I don't usually look for help but (a) I was working long hours and (b) some of the planting required a great deal of muscle power. They planted yew trees and shrubs, Cherry trees and Aspen trees for me.

This company operates under a franchise agreement. They are a terrific bunch of guys. Good humoured, neat and tidy and no job too difficult. I don't have a regular garden with swathes of lawn but if you are in need of garden services of any kind, I recommend this company.

From their web site. http://www.jimsmowing.co.uk/

Jim's Mowing was started in 1982 (in Melbourne, Australia) by Jim Penman - one man with a lawn mower and an urgent need to pay the rent.

With his unwavering dedication to providing excellent customer service, Jim's business quickly outgrew what one man could handle. Trying to service his customers without compromising the quality of his work proved quite a challenge, and after trying a number of ideas, he launched the Jim's Mowing franchise system in 1989.

Jim believed that by offering training and support to others, combined with clearly defined standards of customer service, he could build a strong reputation while attracting both clients and franchisees. The business has been so successful that there are now 2000 Jim's Mowing franchisees worldwide, servicing over ten thousand customers every day.

We are very excited about our expansion into the United Kingdom. Research suggests the UK is the biggest market we have yet entered and we are determined to deliver the same reliable, friendly and professional service that has made Jim's Mowing a household name in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Breezy Start To 2012

Last year is now old and I can't say 2011 will be memorable for its sunny weather. I have less garden or woodland photos than usual from the year but here are a couple of interesting shots for the record.

2011 was dominated by our second renovation of the water tower after the damage caused by a burst pipe. All is going well and works are very nearly complete. A company called "Jims Mowing" planted 2 large Yew trees at the door of the tower as well as a yew hedge at the back and trees in the woodland.

The yew trees were an effort to fit into the ground but with the uplighting and a chance to settle I think they will look good for many years to come.

The start of the year though will for ever more be marked by tales of damage caused by windy weather. At the water tower the damage was not too bad but we didn't escape either.

The wind speed was over 100 mph at times and our outdoor xmas tree blew over along with small items I never knew I had tucked away. Then all the lights went out! we had our power cut off.

The storm damage around us was quite striking with large trees and branches falling onto local power lines and one large tree lying across the now less-than-straight Eskbank sewer pipe. That will be an interesting repair I’m sure for Midlothian Council.

With a house that was shoe horned in between 3 large trees we were rightly concerned. My favourite of the 3 is the Beech and this type of tree is known to be at risk for limb loss. We had it surveyed pre build and crown lifted to take the weight off. All was good. The other 2 are Sycamore and again pruning works have lightened the top load and no damage ensued. Not so good for our direct neighbour when a tree from the tennis club lost a large limb and it fell inches from their car and onto their front gate and pillars.

 The calm after the storm now prevails and we took stock of any damage to our trees. A very very large Beech tree had snapped about 2 feet off the ground revealing an inner core of dark brown crumbling decay. The tree was lying near the edge to the steep drop to the river below, quite a distance from our house and in a little used area of the woodland.

Yesterday with the help of some expert chain saw users G and I managed to clear the ground and cut up the large limbs from the fallen tree to make the area safe although there's more to do. The main trunk is now lying safely at the edge. It looks stunning against the backdrop and it has created a long sitting out area with a lovely view.

Need a name for this new patch. Think I call it "The Beech".

The surrounding trees and the view beyond at this time of the year.