Pergola-la-la

I have been thinking about a pergola for some time. An odd thing to think about I'm sure you'll agree but I have been certain that our garden really lacked it. Our neighbours gardens are so empty of plants etc (although one side is getting better) that we don't get anything filling any space so it makes our garden feel even emptier! So I decided a pergola was the answer...

This weekend just gone we took a couple of days off so we had some time to get it done. We took our little car down to the local timber merchants and placed our order, which they prepared straight away (very nice chaps) - we managed to fit it all in the car and get it home without losing any out of the open boot (phew!).



Two very hot and sweaty days later we got the main posts up:



I'm afraid I don't have a photo of the finished product yet. The cross beams are now on (not in this photo). We are also going to put some trellis panels on the left and right hand side (to the left and right of the main posts) for the grape and hop to grow up. The fig tree is also going to go into the ground in front of the right hand side.



We also still have the patio to finish. We tried to get some nice reclaimed tiles from the local reclamation yard but were shocked to discover that they were £3.50 each (we would have needed 250!), which is considerably more expensive than those that we've seen before so plan B was Homebase where we found some nice-ish brick tiles. Not perfect but they'll do! We need over 200 of them so I did 2 shifts bringing them home in the car so that it wasn't too heavy. I still have one or two more loads to go but couldn't face it this weekend so I will need to get up early on Saturday to get them while Matt starts preparing the ground for laying them.

The chickens decided that we needed some assistance with the pergola. This is Rom, who decided that a pile of bricks would be a good place to sit (she just hopped up there. Isn't she clever!)



Blue, who is still quite ill and having antibiotics, was also trying to help Matt by removing bugs and worms from below the ladder. Isn't she good.



Having dug out the post holes, and some of the paving area, we made a nice pile of soil on some tarpaulin ready to go down to the allotment. The girls, however, had different ideas. Apparently a neat pile is not the done thing and a nice flat dusty spread across the lawn would be much better: