The Old Wooden Bridge
The water race, with water from the Waimakariri River, flows underneath the car bridge at the edge of the property. In the early days the car bridge was built from heavy wooden sleepers laid over the water.
gate
The rough old gate was kept as a sheep barrier - just in case they decide to turn right or left (into the water) when they were crossing the car bridge. One should never over-estimate the brainpower of sheep.
So Messy!
This is what the area by the car bridge used to look like, before it was swallowed up by the great Moosey Digging and Planting Machine. You can see a young version of the Willow Tree in the distance. These are some of my earliest garden pictures, taken years before the Willow Garden came into existence.
the old lawn - from the archives
There was quite a mess to clean up when this photograph was taken. The empty drums, and a lot of rubbish from the gum trees, were still half buried in the ground. There were also patches of daffodils in the long grass. I was in my naturalising of hosts of golden daffodils phase - but I used modern hybrids with tall, floppy stems! Aargh!
The Old Lawn
Here is another archive photograph of the edge of the old lawn, as seen from the other side of the water race. Originally I wanted this area to stay green and grassy.
stumps in the lawn
In the year 2005 I started planting properly, and created a shrubby garden filled with bargain rhododendrons whose colours were unknown. Yes! I'd finally got it right - as far as the location of rhododendrons goes, that is. They are extremely happy, and their flowers still amaze me each spring.
Now the Lawn Looks Like This...
In the early winter of 2013 I popped outside in the rain to try and get an 'after' photograph which would match my early pictures. I'd like to show you how much things have changed. And here it is. I can't see much evidence of the old lawn, or the tree stumps. Can you?