and voila......

It is difficult to describe the sense of relief I have at the moment when I go out into our garden.

Our garden redesign began in December 2007 and has seen us move almost every established plant and live with two and a half years of mess.

Here was the end of the garden in March of last year. We had extended the patio area near to the house and created a shaded path and a herb path on each side of the garden. Trellis had been erected to screen the greenhouse and I had just knocked together the raised bed on the right hand corner of the photograph from reclaimed scaffolding boards.

The mess had been slowly moved to the end of the garden. You can see my pile of reclaimed sandstone and paving slabs adorning the garden, beautifully framing my old and trusty wheelbarrow.

So, fourteen months later, I hope you can see the difference! The second photo was taken just as the sun had risen, hence the dim light!

The raised patio area was built with reclaimed stone and I was especially pleased with my fence around the patio made from entirely reclaimed wood. Well, except for the finials that top each post. I wish I could claim to have personally whittled them from pieces of old wood with my Swiss army knife. I bought them from B&Q.

The retaining walls were built from reclaimed sandstone. They will need attention at some point because the concrete mix was wrong and needs redoing.

But look at my pond. How pleased am I? Once again, reclaimed sandstone - and now with tadpoles that came with some pondweed I dredged from the school pond.

A garden for relaxation. Bring it on!