Further ground works this weekend as the family and I braved the damp weather and muddy clay soils for a second weekend on the trot...
It may look an absolute mess, but actually we've made really good progress! A 'soakaways' was dug in the lowest corner, deep enough to break through most of the clay - whether it makes any difference long term we'll see, but it's peace of mind. We then roughly marked out the new patio area with bricks (by the bench) and started to dig along the top edge, slowly moving material to the bottom corner (closest to the shed).
Hard work, but the nature of the compacted, clay heavy soil meant it clumped so you could almost dig it out in bricks. My daughter broke these up with a small hand fork, before my wife then smoothed it out. My 3 year old son mainly supervised, whilst I did most of the digging.
So this is how things stand now - it's not level yet, but it's getting there. We'll have a long plank and spirit level out next weekend - to check it properly. The aim isn't a perfectly level layout as we'll then put out the track, mark it's position, dig out for some sand and ballast foundation, compact, and level the track bed. After that we'll re-lay the track, wire it up, ballast and then start planting. More soon...
