Several\u00a0of the ruined houses on our rambling estate ware looking a bit worse for wear due to the large amount of undergrowth and trees which have made\u00a0them their home.\u00a0I was conscious that we needed to start taking them down before their roots undermine the foundation-less walls and their trunks start their inevitable quest to push the walls over.<\/p>\n
While we have no immediate plans to renovate these particular buildings,\u00a0as custodians it would be remiss to allow them to fall further into disrepair and beyond the rehabilitation skills of even the most dedicated restorer.<\/p>\n The ‘second bird’<\/em> benefit was that the trees would yield\u00a0plenty of logs\u00a0which would go towards bolstering next winters stocks sat in the wood store.<\/p>\n So one sunny afternoon we dusted off the pruners, sharpened the axe and fired up the chainsaw. Three hours later and we had cleared the forty square metres of floorspace of everything but the most stubborn trunks and three hours after that the soon-to-be burnable wood was in manageable logs which had been split and safely stored under-cover.<\/p>\n It was tiring but rewarding, and although\u00a0the\u00a0timber is of fairly poor quality\u00a0it should provide a few nights warmth in the depths of the next Galician winter. In case you are concerned, that is me with the axe\u00a0taking a breather in the background, not a ‘Here’s Johnny’ moment<\/a>!<\/p>\n Now…where can I get a cheap stump grinder?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s just a week since we returned from a week-long working visit to the house, and already it seems like an age ago. We switched to Spanish time, where one normal hour passes in around\u00a0twenty minutes, as soon as we … Continue reading ![\"ruinbeforechopping\"](\"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/ruinbeforechopping.jpg\")
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