Published on 12, July, 2020
Today I have been busy. I decided to get myself outside and uncover the old horse stables which have sat at the top of the garden overgrown and abandoned the last couple of years.
Previously before they were used as stables my Gran used them for growing flowers and making medicine, she was a herbalist amateur according to my mum, and spent a great deal of time in there using herbs to make this and that.
When I was detained my brother promised he would keep them nice and tidy but fast forward to last year and I got home and found it overgrown and that my brother has moved abroad. So today as it was dry I got out there and cut down the dead tree, removed most of the weeds and brambles, and have reached the front of the stables once more.
My brother sadly dumped loads of old junk in there. Ahhhhhh!!! But that's my next plan to get a skip and clear it all out. To the side of it is a stone trough which I'll also clear out.
Here's this mornings pictures.
And this afternoons which I just took.
I feel so proud of my progress with this today. I'm also feeling really well with my mental health today. Nowhere near done yet but at least I've made a start.
How about beekeeping being a new hobby (I see that bees have already been suggested).
If you're not too sure, then may be reach out to a local beekeeper for advice or even ask if they would like to have one or two of their hives in your garden. That way you would benefit from the expertise, maybe learn from them, or just host their hives in exchange for honey.
That’s a great start - well done once this weather dries up you’ll really be able to do so much more as well - what a wonderful project
It's good you found some pots. If you later buy plants in pots your collection will soon build. Keep the broken ones though and tap them with a small hammer/mallet as they make excellent crocks at the bottom of pots.
Keep posting your pictures so we can see your progress. Good luck with your project
Ooh great idea with the bees! :) I'm not allergic and I do have plenty of space. My garden is more less a field, there's always too much garden for my liking! I would be able to make my own honey then as well. There's an apple tree to the right of the stable. The tree that died that I took down yesterday was an old plum tree. I like the idea of bees though.I thought of looking into practicing herbs and seeing what I can do. I think I might still have some of my Grans old books, somewhere, so I'm going to look out for those.
Thank you, I've done a bit more today, I found these cool terracotta plant pots on the floor in there. Most are in good useable condition, some unfortunately are broken.
I might do a nice hobby room, it has two sides, once was a full room for the horse but my Gran had it made into two rooms. Could use one side for hobbies and the like and the other side could be for gardening. I don't really have any hobbies which is unfortunate. I need to try and find some so I can do more.
Thanks. I would love to get it looking like it used to so my immediate plan is to clear it out, get all the mud dug up (there's brick flooring beneath) and then tidy it up and make it look presentable again. After that I'm not entirely sure. I've had some great suggestions here or I might start using it as a hobby building. I'll give it some thought and see where it goes from there.
Yes I've seen Gardeners World. I would love to grow things like strawberries and other lovely fruits as well. Time was my Gran used to do that and she was really good at it.
One word, Bees.
This assumes you aren't afraid of them, nor allergic to them. With that much space and land, you could have a couple of hives without issue. Learn to care for them and get honey in the process. Local wild flower honey is so much better than the Chinese stuff they sell at most supermarkets.
I would also grow herbs too. A full herb garden might afford you some small side hustle level income. Lavender can be packaged at the end of the year and sold. Same goes for Mint, Rosemary, Thyme and most other herbs. Buy a book on herbalism, a basic one, not like third year doctor level, but something on the basics and have a read. I think herbs and bees would be pretty perfect. It's one of the things i would love to do if I had land.
Well done, just plod along and do it at your own speed, looks like it would make a really good hobby room. Really pleased for you.