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| At Oaking Clough Reservoir yesterday afternoon |
Is it possible to make a good blogpost about cutting hedges? Probably not.
In our back garden there are over fifty metres of privet hedging. One section of this hedgerow is ten feet tall but only six feet tall on our neighbour's side. Every summer I trim all of the hedges three or four times. It is a big job that creates lots of clippings that need to be raked up and disposed of. It's all a big physical workout.
I have a reliable "Bosch" electric hedge trimmer and I also have a long electric extension cable, hand shears and two sets of stepladders. In the middle of the day yesterday I spent two hours just working on one side of the garden. Later today, if the rain holds off, I plan to tackle the other side.
You are probably yawning now. As I suggested in my first paragraph, it is most unlikely that a blogpost about trimming hedges could ever be interesting. Mind you, I could have used some poetic licence. I might have lied about discovering a robin's nest in the hedge with cute baby birds twittering for worms. Awwww! Or I could have created a scenario in which I fell from my stepladder and sliced off one of my legs with the "Bosch" hedge-cutter before crawling back into the house to phone for an ambulance.
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| Approaching Stanedge Lodge |
Anyway after two hours of hedge work, I jumped in Clint and drove out of the city for a country walk. I was soon walking along paths I have walked before but this time after pausing at Oaking Clough Reservoir I proceeded to Stanedge Lodge. You are not meant to walk there as it's surrounded by private land but I thought - what the hell - if anybody challenges me I'll just say that I got lost.
Stanedge Lodge is the highest residential building within the city's boundaries and also the remotest. I was hoping to walk round it but as I got closer I could see that there was a little black car parked near the main door to the south of the building. That's why I chickened out and retreated along the lodge's mile long driveway.
It's an intriguing building - originally developed as a grouse shooting lodge for the landed gentry and their chums. I'm not sure what it is being used for now. Needless to say, I would have loved to look around inside it.
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| Stanedge Lodge |
Well . I can't believe you wouldn't pop into a place like this and find out all about and then tell me! When did you start letting some little black car send you away?
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that I let you down Red.
DeleteYeah ....... I'm always a lot braver before I'm tested, too :)
ReplyDeleteThose are wonderful photos and that lodge is impressive. And maybe clipping hedges isn't fun but as long as you didn't amputate a limb it's all good.
I thought the lodge might be empty but the car said otherwise.
DeleteI don't think posts about everyday life are boring! You should show us pictures of your garden and the hedge after all your hard work. But please - don't even think about cutting off arms or legs with that electric trimmer!
ReplyDeleteStanedge Lodge looks interesting - I can not imagine living in a place so large much less taking care of it. But then I guess anyone that has a place like that has servants to do the work. I would have chickened out of getting too close too because with my luck someone would have come out with a weapon!
You mean you haven't got servants Bonnie? I find them very useful but they need to know who's boss.
DeleteYou could have also embellished your hedge cutting post with pictures of topiary and pretend you had created them with.
ReplyDeleteStanedge Lodge looks like there has been an extension put on at a later date. A quick check with google brings up, among others, the following information: "We have occupancy information for 3 people based at this address from 2002 to 2019 from Edited Electoral Roll" and that there was no sale later than 1995.
There is a little bit of information about it on the internet but not much. It is rather mysterious.
DeleteTopiary? I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps I should have posted a picture of a privet cat or a train: http://www.throughthegardengate.co.uk/blog/?tag=privet-topiary
time to consider a cordless hedge trimmer , they are quite impressive these days . I have one and a stack of batteries and away i go , far less trouble than miles of cable
ReplyDeleteI have so much hedge that the battery would run out before I had finished. Sorry Kate, I am not fond of rechargeable devices.
DeleteI don't blame you for being intrigued by Stanedge Lodge. Maybe it's haunted? It looks like a setting for a Stephen King novel.
ReplyDeleteDon't cut the cord on your hedge-trimmer! We could certainly tell you about that, LOL!
I have cut it - twice! And both times I fixed it myself. So there!
DeleteDid you see a ghostly face peering out of a window? It looks like that sort of place.
ReplyDeleteI guess it does. It is shrouded in mystery.
DeleteI'm very disappointed there wasn't a photograph of your hedge trimmer. I once showed mine - see post "Hedge Trimmer Safety 1968".
ReplyDeleteVery few people are turned on by hedge trimmers Sir Tasker. You are one in a million.
DeleteI don't find such posts about the day to day stuff boring. It's why I enjoy reading other blogs; other places, other people, other lives.
ReplyDeleteStanedge Lodge looks very forbidding to me. Like something out of an episode of Vera.
I think I will make up a little story set at Stanedge Lodge. The housekeeper will be wearing a nylon housecoat with a fag hanging out of the corner of her mouth. I will call her Elsie..Vera...Muriel...no! Jacqueline!
DeleteWell, your hedge trimming could have ended as it did once for one of my sons. 15 years old and helping out in the garden, the trimmer slipped and he managed to slice right through the top digit of his little finger--exposing the bone. He ran into the house, bleeding like crazy, to get assistance. While father starts to faint (such a help), I was able to stop the bleeding, bind it up and drive him to the hospital for repairs. Father recovered, too.
ReplyDeleteI bet your son still bears the scar. He could say that he acquired it fighting rebels in Afghanistan.
DeleteWouldn't care to live in that house. Nope. Not me. Although who knows? The inside might be stunningly gorgeous. And cheerful, belying the threatening exterior.
ReplyDeleteWe want pictures of your hedges. Yes. We really do.
Its rainy today. I promise I will post hedge pictures some other time.
DeleteStanedge Lodge looks like a haunted manor house in an English gothic novel. I love it! As to the hedges...when I was trimming mine the other day I managed to slice through the first extension cord I used. It flashed electricity and scared me to death! At least I didn't get electrocuted! After that I was much more careful.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Ms. Moon....show us pictures!
It is easy to slice through an electric cable. We need to be more careful or we will be fried alive!
DeleteAnd I am also with Ms.Moon and Jennifer - we'd love to see pictures of your hedge!
DeleteBut what if they are figments of my imagination?
DeleteI remember my father clipping our hedges and it took forever as he used only hand shears. By the way in answer to your last post - Addy is not my real name but made up of A for Alcoholic and D for Daze and made into the name ADDY. Capitals as they stand for words rather than that i am shouting!
ReplyDeleteOkay. Thanks for that explanation Mavis.
DeleteStanedge Lodge looks a fine building. It just needs a hedge.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be pretty hard to establish a privet hedge on that wild moor Philip.
DeleteStanedge Lodge seems to be a favorite spot of yours - a Google search and all the best photos were yours! Empty and able to be explored would be more fun but a great photo of a run-down relic! Surely there are abandoned, ancient ruins you could photograph and delight us with?!
ReplyDelete