Victorian Hardcore

Yesterday, as we had access to a digger, we decided to do some landscaping of the grounds of Balintore Castle. When I say "landscaping" please put away all notions of Capability Brown: this was removing dead trees, old tree stumps and the scrubby overgrown on the bank above the tennis court that had sprung up over the last 50 years or so. Two bonfires were kept burning throughout the day to remove the organic waste.

To finish-up,  Gregor started to clear away the mud he had churned-up on the east castle drive. To his great delight he discovered the original Victorian hardcore track hidden beneath a century or more of accumulated earth and grass.

The Victorian track turned out to be considerably wider than the current overgrown path extending in the uphill direction for at least another yard, so Gregor excavated the path and cut away the muddy banks on each side for a full 100 yard stretch.

The result of yesterday's endeavors was to turn what has always been a narrow, dark and damp path into an impressive, light and airy drive. When Gregor comes back from his holidays and if we get access to the digger again, I would love the whole drive to be excavated in this way. Car access to the castle would be immeasurably improved.

Sadly, I have no before photos as the improvement was a spontaneous decision!

newly excavated east drive - looking east

newly excavated east drive - looking west