Turnout Thursday 27th January – Mysteries

We spent much of the day tidying up the area around the back of the pond. We’ve created a path that now runs along the wall to the mysterious flag stones in the corner. We have looked at old maps – one does mention a ‘horse box’ in 1850 – but there’s evidence of broken glass, lots of rusty nails, hooks and latches (all hand made), and there’s an obvious channel through the middle that isn’t paved which leads to the stream. A sheep dip has been suggested? A pig house? As it offers a lovely view up towards Eastby Crag across the wildlife pond, it’ll probably be used as a patio this year!

The other exciting mystery is the disappearing stream. The flow has always been good but once it reaches the bridge, the flow stops, returning again once in the field next door. Part of the mystery was solved by Ernest and Paul who lifted the bridge sleepers and removed the silt that had been blocking the channel. The stream now flows through, but we still believe the real channel has yet to be discovered.

June 2017 – The Beginning

We moved to Eastby as a family of five. We had been looking for somewhere to move to for about four years, but nothing quite matched our criteria – a house with character, set in a village but not isolated, a big garden, and close to a town that had a train station and schools. When we viewed our house for the first time, it was a lovely spring morning. The first thing to hit us were the views out from many windows, to the south facing garden. Without doubt, it was the garden that won us over. However, the 3/4 acre plot was not without major issues – invasive weeds and a lack of attention over the past ten years had left it looking overgrown and a bit over-facing. There was an ornamental upper garden with a patio area, pond and large beds with shrubs and perennials. These beds were consumed with ground elder. The main paddock was covered mainly with head high nettles. The vegetable plot was difficult to access, but the remains of an old greenhouse was visible, as were the two plum trees and cherry tree. That first summer, we covered our legs and arms and enjoyed picking the most amazing crop of plums that inspired us to think about resurrecting the plot to recreate the family vegetable garden.