Old photo of the cottage

How wonderful for you to have that photo. My house was built in about 1900, but I've never been able to find any history on it (at some point decades ago there was a fire in the courthouse and records were lost). It is one of the oldest houses in the county (yes, 100 years old is considered ancient around here). I've been finding old bits and pieces of pottery and metal and handmade nails in the driveway where the gravel has eroded away due to recent heavy rains. Hopefully I'll find something interesting!

Georgia is Gone with the Wind country though, isn't it? It must be gorgeous there :P (sorry, i'm a bit of a dreamer...). I'm always finding broken bits of china in the most peculiar places, not sure whether someone used it in the bottoms of containers or just liked throwing it about the place... but not quite as exciting as handmade nails and stuff, may your gravel keep on eroding :P

This is really interesting Jenny! Our house was built in 1850, and like yours, our place was built for the canal workers. It is a 2 up, 2 down Victorian cottage, made of the local quarry stone in Bath, over here in Wiltshire. The stone is very porous (that's not good!), but in most places, it is 20 inched thick!(that's great!). We have an 80 foot garden, which is kepted in the cottage style. When we were replacing the floor, we found some old penny coins dating back to 1877,1942,1949 and 1959, in amongst the soil and rubble! Our own little bit of history!

lucky :P I think ours is only 9 inches or something... bad for the heating bills anyway :P (we have a coal-fired rayburnto keep everything cosy as the gas lines don't come down this far!). Unfortuately it does mean we can't get cavity wall insulation or anything, and the listing doesn't allow double glazing so my windows were completely frozen over this winter, vuhrrrrr!

We were also 2 up, two down, just like you, but my parents had an extention added round the back when they moved in. It still looks teh same from the front though, apart from now being white and the hedge being a lot taller :P

But I am quite jelous of your cottage garden... ours is in places, but mainly just a struggle against the bindweed, hogweed and mare's tails which seem to have got a firm grip. Oh, and dads lumps of metal which he leaves over the place (conveniently he works at the nearby drydock as an engineer and fixing boats... does mean we end up having machines strewn over the front lawn, and i dig up more spanners than coins :P)

Oh the woes of living in a cottage... wouldn't swap it for the world though :P

Oh you just wouldn't believe the junk and invasive weeds we found in our garden when we first started to work on it Jenny! It has taken over the last 10 years to get it like it is now.....and the work never really stops, as you keep improving on old ideas! lol! I adore our cottage too, and couldn't think about moving....we have lived here 28 years now, and have no plans to go anywhere else! :~))

Is there hope though? Do the invasive weeds eventually go away after much digging and killing??! The mares tails are doing my head in :P

You could try laying an old carpet or something similar over it, as if no water or light gets in, it should give up the ghost, but it is a tough weed to kill off....might be worth putting it up as a question, Jennyfer, and see what other Goyers think is the best way of eradicating it....

Ooh, good idea, i might try that :P i've yet to experiment with the question thing :) problem is they are literally EVERYWHERE, growing up amoung plants, in the hedge, in the lawn, growing up through cracks in the paths... :'( its enough to drive anyone crazy :P

are you near to carrington, our cottage was built in 1852 near to the canal allso and is cottage style of garden .there is a pic on sumwere. we get mares tail .u just have to keep pulling it

umm, to be honest i have no idea where carrington is :P We're in Dutton, which nobody seems to know of either :P

yes i haveherd of dutton lol . we are near uniteds traineing ground ,they have kinder put it on the map . but wish they wud go away . wud love to b more in to warburton or dunham which is 10 min from us

ah, most of my dealings in the area have always been towards northwich ways and in whitley, weaverham and barnton and stuff, so i don't know much of cheshire outside that sadly. Maybe one day when i can drive i shall have to go exploring :P

ohhh you will lol so much 2 see

there are lots of stories based on life next to and on the canals, there is a lovely one based round here ~ 'Lock Keeper's Daughter': A Worcestershire Canal Childhood by
Pat Warner