Ivy and thorn bushes

A couple of jobs today that have been on the list for some time. When we ripped off all of the ivy from the hexagonal tower at the front of the chateau there were a couple of branches that were so embedded that we will need to remove some stone to get them right out. We will do this when we repoint the tower but every so often they sprout some new shoots and I have to go up on the cherry picker to pull them, off. An easy job but I wait until I need the cherry picker for a few other jobs. 

One such job that has not been done before is to get the ivy and some small trees off the top of the pigeonaire. Most of it came of pretty easily but there was one particularly big and stubborn branch of ivy that took some effort. Once it was all off it looked a lot better. Hopefully next year we will start work converting this into accommodation and the roof will get a full overhaul

The last job of the day which proved easier than anticipated was all the thorn bushes and the like that are growing on the roof of the bread oven. When I say roof, I actually mean where the roof used to be! It is in such a poor state that I am surprised it has not all collapsed in. Clearing this is the start of a full renovation of the bread oven. In the next month Mark the stonemason and Ant the roofer will be coming over to help with this. A great deal of it will have to be taken down and rebuilt and then it will all need repointing. Then Ant can do his stuff and put on a new tiled roof. Fortunately we have a lot of old roof tiles.

You will notice that there was actually a full grown tree growing out of the roof, reaching about 3 metres tall. I cut this down last summer and will have to grind it out the stump when Mark & Ant are here. Why oh why could the previous owners do some basic work on looking after this place :(