view from the back

Hi Fran ..
ooh exciting to explore ..
I can see the bendy conifer and your roof :o)

I'll tay again another day to see if I can reach my fence, rethar than next door's - maybe I'll start at my fence, where the foliage is a tad thinner ...

I hope you have good wellies for your safari ...
Are there lots of garden birds around ?

... it's fun seeing your new environment :o)

So rural to what you're used to do you notice the weather more
you have had quite a wet start......

Is the field farmland for grazing do you know, so exciting to see all the changes as spring comes x

That reminds me so much of my friend's house. her garden also drops down to a water meadow with a brook behind! It's a lovely situation Fran. Congratulations!

It will be so different for you Fran and so exciting, you'll have more birds for a start, you enjoy it ....

I had on a pair of leather boots, TT, all I had apart from suede boots which would have been sponges and leaky trainers! I'm sure there are lots of birds, I can hear lots of different calls, but of course spotting them is a bit harder than hearing them.

So true, Pam! couple of months ago I was rejoicing cos I had a gate put in a chicken wire fence that would let me get out into a patch of green that was squirrel infested and mown almost flat!

it's open ground - one way on leads past a set of goalp[osts, though I think it'd be like mud wrestling to use that pitch! and the otehr leads to a brookside path with a smll bit of woodland the other side. it's for dog-walking,a nd no doubt dog-doing-things.

but apart from the dogs and their people, there'll be plenty to see, when it gets warm enough and dry enough to sit out quietly and see what happens along.

Thanks Karen. I fell on my feet and no mistake!

Thanks, Lincs, I intend to get some local-garden-bird knowledge and find somewhere uiet to sit iwth a pair of binoculars and a camera!

You were very brave to make such a big move, Fran, and it has certainly paid off. You are going to have a very exciting spring/summer watching for all the new goings-on around you - and we can share it too :)

not too sure about "brave", Gee - I'd been trying to get out of London for about 20 years, and I was pretty sure that I'd never get a better offer than this. If I'd really appreciated the distance and the logistics, and if I hadn't had good friends to take me up and down ...,

(The only previous one was for Bradford on Avon - a bungalow that was a actually slightly enlarged shoe box, garden smaller than the one I already had at the flat - and I was 83rd on the list! shows how bad it was that they worked that far down).

This, I think, will be my *home*, not just somewhere I'm living while waiting for something better to turn up - and I intend to make the most of it, inside and out!

Bungalows are always popular Fran, for all the obvious reasons. We downsized into ours just over 4 years ago, and it was one of the best moves we've ever made, I'm sure you'll find yours is too.

How exciting to have the open space at the back of your home, I'm sure you will get lots of birds to your garden, if those trees are anything to go by. As for the other wildlife,...well who knows what you might get?
Progress pics please :)

Oh Fran so excited for you, you will be so happy in your new Home, congratulations on getting the move done and getting up and back on line, hope you have lots and lots of happy years ahead of you in your new bungalow. :O)

Hi Waddy - you're right, bungalows are the ace in the pack! and at the worst, only one neighbour on each side ..., no tapdancing elephants above or screaming agruments below ...

Of course, they're the most inefficient for economical use of ground area! and "bungalow" implies "garden" so that means even more space "wasted".

I'm going to have to do several searches to find out what local wildlife might be around: there's a nature reserve along the book valley, and there's a Wildlife Trust in town which should be able to give me lots of info. Of course, wildlife being around and me seeing it are two very different things! but at least I'll know what I could keep a lookout for.

I'll try to remember to take pics now and then, when something happens to justify noting a change *s*

Thanks Olive. I am excited, but it's worn off a bit by being here all the time rather than visiting and dreaming of being here!

but "je suis, je reste - going to dig a moat all the way round and fit a drawbridge!!

With the current weather you won't have any problems filling the moat with water! So happy for you Fran.

thanks, Stera. lol if the water from the brook reached this level, I'd be seriously worried!

Though I might have a go: I got my first ever wall bill, never had a meter before, and they're charging me for "surface water" which I can only interpret as the rain that hits my roof. I'm going to query this: if it's so, I'm going to get a dozen water butts linked up to all gutters, and maybe the moat will take care of any "surface water" anywhere else in the garden!

I await all with baited breath lol!

Isn't it a standard charge for "surface water"? They can't measure that.I think it would be the same even if you captured it all in water butts.

Sorry to say, you're dead right Stera. However, the water butts are still a good idea. I have four dotted around the garden at various catchment points and it's amazing how quickly they both fill...and empty!
Fran, get a water meter anyway, you'll be surprised how much lower your bills will be. You can have one put in for a trial period of 12 months. If after that time you don't find any benefit, it can be disconnected. When we moved here the property was already on Meter, to my dismay. As it turned out, we've saved a lot of money.

I have a water meter, Waddy, my first ever - when I lived in flats, there was a standard "water" charge added to the rent. This is the first time I've had a separate water bill, which is why I don't know what's going on! (The meter is on the pavement, under a small hatch and down a tube; i had to get someone to take the initial reading for me, but apparently someone came round to read it for the bill.)

The bill says "measured drainage", which made me think they'd metered the water coming back down the pipes, and so getting water butts would leave nothing to be metered!

I wanted to get water butts anyway - I'd planned to do that in my previous flat, but there were no downpipes to link in to. Are downpipes here! Not sure if next door's and my gutters are linked (as semi-detached, do we share gutters?) - if so, I'd have two roof's-worth of water to collect.

The bungalow on the other side has guttering on their graden shed, which is a good idea, and something I'll be looking at., I have two sheds: I had the idea of putting both sheds to line up, covering the space between them to give me a dry working space, and guttering the whole thing. I'll have to wait to see what the handyperson thinks; s/he'd have to do the actual work.

I've been looking at water butts for a while - sadly, the one I'd really set my heart on, an eBay company, has stopped trading! my handyman at the old place gave me a butt, but I need a stand for it, and connections. But this is the time of year that I should get them in: not much point waiting till summer when it won't rain half as much.

I've written to the water company to ask for an explanation - they also charge for "used water" which I could stand to have explained!

Let us know what they say.

Yes, let us know. As I said, we're on meter but we don't seem to have the strange charges you get.
As for the Water Butts, we've found over the years, Wilkinsons are by far the cheapest and they deliver if you need it.

It certainly looks soggy on your water meadow at the moment Fran. Your house looks high up on the skyline, so you should be safe from that interesting stream/brook. Shrewsbury is such a lovely place for you to have landed. One of my favourite TV programmes is Escape to the Country and you seem to have managed it by sheer persistence. Not stuck in the middle of nowhere, but neatly placed just on the edge of town.

Thank, Waddu, that's worth knowing! I've been checking Amazon, but the reviews say a lot about leaks and ill-fitting components (I always check the low ratings, to find out what people *do'nt* like about something!)

Thanks, Dorjac. lol this isn't the "sticks" at all, but maybe just a tiny bit "stick-y" - at least till I find my way around, different ways to get to where, and get my bus pass so I won't have to walk everywhere!

Surface water drainage charges are only payable if your surface water goes into the drainage system. If no drainage system exists you shouldn't have to pay it. I don't as surface water here just goes into the ground and, eventually, drains away. I contacted my water co. when I first moved here and they agreed. I too have found that the water meter saves me lots of money, not so good for larger families but brilliant for those of us who are solo :)

thanks, Gee - I've not heard back from the water company yet: I'll give it a couple of weeks and if no answer, will try again. The bill mentions an option for large families, which would be heavier on water usage, so I suppose they'd get a more helpful rate.

I've looked at several water butts online - I usually look at the "least" reviews first, since I want to know what they *didn't* like about the item - a few butts seem to have problems with leakage or taps not fitting properly - of course, this could be due in part to the buyer not doing it right!

And sorry, Waddy, for mis-spelling your name last time! keyboard gremlins got in ...

Fran, how lovely to see your home at last. You've waited so long for this - Enjoy!

thanks Gatiina, you've been sorely missed xxxx

It's good to catch up on your news, Fran! Glad to see you're making yourself "at home" in your new bungalow!

I see you have found lots of bulbs in your new garden! :-)) See that you keep the Daffodils - they are like gold as they multiply without you having to do much more than "put up" with their yellowing leaves in May! They come back year after year after year & go on & on & on flowering!

There are many other bulbs like that as well especially Grape Hyacinths. They will grow in cracks in paving & in any odd corner. Another one like that is 'Star of Bethlehem'. I grew some in my parents' garden back in the late 60s. When I left home to go to Spain in '72 they obviously had to stay in the garden - when I returned to live here 13 years ago I saw they were still growing but in the cracks between the pavement & the house & even in the road itself, in small cracks they'd found. There are also some growing semi-wild a few minutes walk from our flat. Due to the council lorries probably some of them had been "squeezed" out of the saturated ground & were lying on the surface. I picked them up & found room for them in one of the tubs on our balcony!

lol Balcony, last August, before I even got the offer of this place, I bought twenty boxes of bylbs at SAinsbury (blog "Sainsbury Splurge"). I bought five different types of narcissus - alraedy hade Tete-a-Tete but bought another box of them anyway.

Not heard of Star of Bethlehem, but will check it out. Though don't think I need to buy any more bulbs for quite some time to come. there's going to be mass plantings in autumn - probs' going to be to find space for them all, but oh! what a display I'll have!!

Fran, best not to wait until autumn to plant them or they might not still be viable. Get them in now even though its a funny time of year.

thanks, Stera. I was waiting till the weather (and the ground) warmed up a bit, also to find out what's already there before I start digging and possibly disrupting them. But I've got plenty of troughs and tubs I could put them in - justneed to find somehwere that'll deliver a dosen or so sacks of compost! (don't fancy trucking them home on a shopping trolley frame, it's not as if the shop were just down the road any more)

Tescos do home delivieries of food cannot think they would not deliver compost Fran. Maybe a call to the local supermarket would be in order for you. Although that might not be the cheapest way of buying compost. Ring a local garden centre and ask, you never know they might just deliver. Good luck with it all. Sure you will find a way.

I've looked online, and have found some "national delivery" companies, but it means bulk buying - well, 12 60-litre sacks is pretty "bulk" to me!

I've been doing searches for supermarkets in Shrewsbury, the only Tesco is "metro" which is the smaller shop - just did a search for "Tesco home delivery" and they only do a 20-litre sack (did I mean to search for "compote"?) , which costs almost as much as some of the 50-litre ones I've seen elswhere.

There's a Morrisons, but, annoyingly, no "search" on their website. I could take a chance and go there to see what they've got ...

on balance, I might go for the "bulk" - at least they deliver, and if I get a stack now, that'll last me oh, at least a week or two! provided I can find somewhere to store it out of the way and dry

water bill update: they've confirmed that they are charging me for rain water that goes into their drains and sewers. So I really need to extract digit and get water butts - and get them fitted! I've been looking online, but so many seem to have probs with leakage or taps not fitting. I did find one that had 100% positive reviews, but when I went back, guess what? no longer available, grrr.

Are most homes charged for rainwater going into drains and sewers ?

Added blog to GoYpedia.

At least everyone who's using Severn Trent Water will be paying for the rain. I fail to see how rainwater wears out their pipes to the extent that they have to charge for its removal.

I might not have quereied it if it hadn't been more than 50% of the bill.

Interesting ...

Just ordered two water butt kits from Argos, should be here next week - then probably stand around for a month while I get round to finding someone to fit them! They don't have totally positive comments, but at least if I can get something in now, that'll do for now - should certainly save on future bills..

I have several water butts ... can't recall where bought ... very useful in summer, especially for plants which don't do well with tap water.

I've gone for "slim" 100-litre butts - they'll do for starters, and I can get add-ons if needed. Typical, I should have done this a month ago, look at all the rain we had!

There's an external tap, but I'll try to keep that for path-scrubbing - apart from the additives in tap water, it comes out freezing. I wouldn't like being snug in my bed and suddenly being doused with freezing cold water! - :-).

In the old place I had no choice but to use tap water, but I filled several 5-litre water bottles and let them stand, so at least the water was at a more reasonable temperature.

Surely they don't metre the rainwater going into the drains? Water butts are good and useful but I don't think preventing rainwater going into the drains would make any difference to your charges - its probably a standard rate for groundwater.

That's what they said, Stera: I got it on audio CD because they can't do large print, which makes it impossible to copy and paste relevant sections!

"The surface water drainage charge covers the cost of draining rainwater from your property. If no rainwater from your property drains to the public sewer, then you will not have to pay this charge. To put it plainly, the surface water charge is for rainwater running off the property and returning to the sewer."

Took me about ten minutes to get all that! Dot-and-carry - play, pause, type, play, pause, type, playback to check, correct ...

so I'll save in more ways than one by getting butts fitted.

I still think its a standard charge unless you can actually prove that no rainwater at all is going into the sewer. You would have to declare that all your rainwater goes into a septic tank or a soakaway. They do not measure how much water goes into groundwater drainage pipes. You will have to ask them how you can show that you are collecting all your rainwater, and you will have to make provision for what happens to any overflow from the final tank if there is more rain than usual and the last tank fills..

You would need a great many water butts or a large tank to collect all your roof water. We only have one but it is astonishing how quickly it fills up in winter. 3cm of rainfall will fill an Argos 100litre tank if your total roof area is 30 sq metres (counting both sides of the roof) so one butt on each side of the house would obviously need 6cm rainfall to fill them both. Average annual rainfall for Shrewsbury is 65cm. So you'd need five butts on each side of the house.

I don't want to sound negative but before you start buying lots of butts you need to check again that what I've said is correct or you may finish up getting bills anyway.I rather think that if your house is connected to mains drainage you then pay the charges regardless as the automated system will assume you are using it. Make sure they haven't just sent you a standard reply without considering exactly what you are proposing to do.

Thanks Stera, I hadn't done the maths! Even to checking averae rainfall here. I'm getting two butts, for front and back, but I don't really want banks of them.

I'm in the process of writing to them about something else and I'll ask whether it's a standard charge of they do actually meter the rainwater (they said "metered surface water") - but how would they know "if no rainwater drains from my property" if ti's not metered?