**Seems like a lifetime ago**

it looks as though you employed a fairy godmother to wave a wand over it. Love that beautiful front door!
Did you reuse the blocks from the old frontage in the design for the new one? It all looks great - wonder what the previous owners would think...

Gosh that was quick Stera......a neighbour had the bricks, we recycle when we can......
Unfortunately the old boy who had the house died, we were lucky to get it, (our daughter lived next door, so she looked out for us) at the time it was the only house in LOS for sale, her house was in the same condition, so we knew what we were taking on!!

You've improved the property no end! You have certainly put in a lot of hard work to get it to look the way it does now!

The front garden looks wonderful now, so tidy but interesting and in keeping. Thank goodness for that rain at last, but it needs to continue to make any difference.

That is such a difference. Looks wonderful.

Thanks Siris, certainly lifting the canopy of the hedge, has improved the garden, looks much larger too...
Thanks Balcony, it has been hard work, but we feel it has been worth it...

It looks like a big house. I like the climbing plants at our front door, DD but I can see that you have not keep the architectural feature above the door. The front garden looks lovely. I also find our old photos amusing.

All your hard work paid off,Angela,,well worth the effort ,to get it just as you want it..I too,love your front door,especially the colour..Bob the builder certainly lived up to his name :o)

what a difference for the better .... and a good combo of soft and hard landscaping ....

Gg

Sorry, I meant to say I love the climbing plants at YOUR lovely front door Dd.

this makes the first blog even better as we can see the massive improvements you have made. well done. its always lots of hard work.

Seaburn you tend to forget what you started off with, luckily I love taking photographs, since a child I have always had a camera in my hand, its our hobby, so it never seems like hard work.....
Klahanie the feature bricks around the door, literally all fell down five minutes after this photograph was taken!! the front door is one of the best improvements we have done, it is not a big house it is semi-detached! pleased you like the planting combination...
Sandra, so many friends and neighbours have commented on the front door, I quite expected to see them all down the road!
Thanks Gnarly, it is not always easy to design a tiny frontage, but I have to hand it to my OH, he has a good eye, and to us the front is the most important.....
Thank you Linda that is very kind of you.....

Using a circle always works well in a small space ...
looks fab ...

What variety is the rose and clematis around the door way please ..

Gg

I really like the way your front garden and door look now Dotty ... you must be so pleased with it all. I see the downpipe has moved along too! :o)

What a difference. It looks much better now, and I bet you enjoyed making it like that. I can see the work and love you put into it :)

Very nice....worth all the work. Lvely front door...ha ha , but I am biased as it's the same colour as ours!

Gnarly it is Malvern Hills because we love the Malvern Hills, and the Clematis is Madame Julia Correvon, they both are very reliable performers.
Great minds think alike then Paul!!
Hywel, thank you, it was hard work, and I do wonder how we managed it at times!!
Shirley it has altered a great deal even since you last saw it.....we both enjoy making changes, as long as they are not too drastic now!! getting to long in the tooth!!

I love circles in gardens, DD, and I particularly love yours. Everything looks lush and happy and is a credit to you.

I know all about dodgy knees too! I would love to be able to crouch down and garden but even if I got down it would be too painful to get back up again so I bend from the waist until my back complains. Then I drop to my knees and sit on a mat. Old age doesn't come alone, does it? But as long as we keep gardening we'll be fine. Mind you, bending from the waist does have one advantage - my rear looks very neat and toned!

Congratulations, your garden is beautiful.

Wow, that's fascinating to see! Isn't it great when you stumble across old pics and get a lovely reminder of how far you've come? :) I really love your new front door. :)

Hi K.......was wondering where you had got to? thought you might have been away somewhere hot!! pleased you like the door, the first thing our visitors from Norway said, we love your door!! not the garden lol!!
Arbuthnot, you make me laugh! especially regarding your rear end, I very nearly choked on my toast! glad you like the circle, we have one in the back garden also, well a circular lawn that is, a blog will follow on our transformation eventually.......of the back and side garden.

Him Indoors (or should I say Outdoors?) is creating a circular lawn though it will have a little chunk out due to the stone circle where the pergola is. I've posted some 'so far' pix as he's also getting the ground ready for a shed. I don't think the garden is really big enough given that we're so enclosed by the brick wall of a neighbouring house but I can see how useful it will be. I'm trying to think of ways to prettify it when it's erected.

You obviously like circles too. Gosh, just think of it, you and I could both have pagan rituals inside those circles. I think I'll wait until the warm weather though.....

Speaking of cameras...I got my first one aged 11. I took it on my first school trip to London. I took about 30 photos of Victoria outside Buckingham Palace! ...and some daffodils in hyde park.

DD What a beautiful transformation, its great to see a good balance of driveway and garden, I always feel sorry when a frontage to a house is all hard landscaping.

Arbuth I am still toying with the idea of a Pagan ritual, but like you will wait for the Summer lol.
Thanks HB I am happy with it, less trouble than the back garden....
K I must have been about the same age, I should have kept it on reflection, it would have been a collectors item now ha ha......
Stroller many thanks for your very kind comments, we could not stand to see it covered in hard landscaping.....

Thanks for the names ....

Gg

Frean used to do pagan rituals - wonder what happened to her? She'll be getting ready for Beltane now.

We have lost so many over the years Stera......

True. (I meant Fran of course...)

I thought so.....lol!!

Beltane is May, Stera. The next one is Yule.

Shows what I know...I just know she makes little tents and has an outdoor fire on these occasions. And you surely need a fire if you are in a tent this weather.

Ha ha, yes you do. But then I'd need one in May too! My normal temperature is lower than 98.4 or, in new money, 36 so I do feel the cold. There is a plus though: I rarely catch a head cold.

Really Arbuthnot!! that's interesting.....

I don't know if my theory is correct but I haven't had a cold in over 40 years. Mind you I do take a fairly high dose of Vit C every day without fail so that probably helps too. I also give it to Him Indoors as he has a low immune system due to leukaemia and since taking the vitamin I think he's only had one cold whereas before he used to get two or three each winter.

I have heard that taking large amounts of vitamin c does help, my OH would certainly benefit, he gets more colds than I do!! being that much older lol?

Welcome to my world Arbuthnot. Mine is 36.2 and can drop to 35.7 when I'm chilled. Try convincing the doctor that you've got a high temp!

Hello DD your garden is one of the most beautiful I have seen and is a tribute to you and your OH's dedication and hard graft, please keep up the good work and let us see any changes you make to your little piece of paradise.

well Costus thanks very much indeed, that is very kind of you, I will certainly keep you posted.....

What a transformation to your front garden DD, it looks so lovely. I love your cottagey looking front door too. Thankyou for sharing your photos.

Lindak your very welcome, will post one of the back garden when I can get all the old pics on my computer....