The phrase ‘One step forward, two steps back’ comes to mind this week as things seem to conspire against us. Wasn’t that a bad 80s song by Paula Abdul of American X Factor fame..? In between looking after Aggie and battling with WordPress, I had the misfortune to catch a bit of the first episode of the new UK X Factor series on Saturday.
Simon Cowell’s high-wasted trousers and unbuttoned shirts reappearing on TV must mean it’s the run-down to Christmas already. Wow. This year really is flying by and it feels like we’ve gone two steps back when it comes to getting the holiday accommodation up and running at Pengelly.
We’ve hit a bit of a brick wall with removing the Section 106 – that’s the council order which prevents us from using our land for anything other than agricultural use. The easier route to take was to have the local farmer’s agreement to the Section 106 being lifted from both his land and ours. But he doesn’t want to get involved. He also doesn’t want us to use his lane which adjoins our property to access our land either.
Current entrance to Pengelly
When your chosen path becomes impassable, it’s time to think more creatively and come up with a Plan B. Hopefully one that’s EVEN better than Plan A was. Luckily we’ve come up with a great Plan B for accessing our land. We already have a little bridge crossing our stream, so with a bit of creative landscaping to widen our current entrance and by building a new vehicle-worthy bridge, we will have a really beautiful entrance way for visitors staying on our land – plus an access for vehicles. Hooray. An even better option than using the neighbouring lane.
The current footbridge
And as for removing the Section 106 from our land to allow us to apply for planning permission for holiday houses – we don’t yet have a Plan B. But are trusting in our Planning Consultant and the wisdom of the Council to find a way to make it work. Oh good.
Meanwhile work in the gardens continues apace. Jim has been collecting pots together to sell – here’s just a small selection. There are literally hundreds of pots of all shapes and sizes dotted about on our land. Plant-pot anyone?? We’ve been taking stock of our plants and choosing which to keep, chop or sell by tagging them with ribbons. And we’ve been blessed with days of sunshine, beautiful sunsets and visits from some lovely friends. What a gorgeous end to the summer.
Pengelly Pots (this is just the start!)
Next week we start our garden re-design and landscaping in earnest.
Oh and here’s the Buddha from the ‘Spot the Buddha’ competition last week. “There she is!!” as Aggie would say. Buddha is a girl as far as Aggie is concerned.
More postcards to follow.