January 2017 at Chenevaux has been a bit chilly so far

Winter sunset at Chenevaux

For well over a week now, and set to continue for a few more days it has been as low as -8C at night and during the day not much above freezing.  We're getting through plenty of wood on the log burners!

No snow but pleanty of ice around

At least it has been sunny so we have been able to do some outdoor work.  The project of landscaping the "pond" has been delayed due to the frozen ground but a batch of plants that were delivered a couple of weeks ago arrived just in time to be heeled in in the veggie garden.  Progress so far ...

The pond late autumn

Mark cut out a lot of the brambles and sloes about 15 months ago and we then ( with help from Mark's brother ) put the groundcover on the bank to stop them growing back - this photo was taken late Autumn 2016. The bullrushes have spread but we don't mind that. What we don't want is all of the other weedy mess.  Normally the area would be at least 30 cms under water at the end of the year but after a very wet late spring in 2016 it has been and remains really dry.  So as we could get down there it was wellies on and onto the next phase.

Lots more digging out of brambles, clearing and pruning later it was time to start planting.  Having ordered 40 low growing, ground cover cotoneasters the idea was to plant 10 a day for 4 days, however we didn't allow for the fact that the soil under the membrane would be like concrete, so it took a lot longer. Now the new delivery of plants to finish the central area; mahonia, red cornus and rose of sharon; will have to wait until the weather gets warmer again.

40 of these cotoneasters planted!

By the way if you ever think about planting on a steepish bank - its not easy!  I found that at the steepest point I had to sit on the ground with my legs astride the planting area and hope I didn't slip down to the bottom.

The right bank

In this area, which has also had loads of brambles dug out of it - inspired by our visit to Sissinghurst last spring - we have planted 250 anemone blanda to add to the existing bluebells. They were enough for about half of the area but are supposed to colonise quickly.  As you see from the photo below we are hoping for miracles but you've got to start somewhere!

Anemone blanda at Sissinghurst

Silver birch trees with oak and beech in the background

These are the silver birch trees we planted a few years ago, starting to make an impact in the winter sun.