In a very poor state!
Peter, planning where to start.
Close to the village at the start of a footpath up towards Summerhill behind Primrose Cottage on Potmans Lane was a stile which has been in a poor state of repair for some time. It is readily available from the road and therefore was left till a winter session when more remote jobs might have been inaccessible. After a considerable amount of rain in the early hours, Sunday 2nd November dawned dry albeit rather overcast. However, the sun did show it’s face later.
Soon working up a sweat.
Once the ground was cleared and the old stile and fencing removed, we started digging. This must be the best soil in the parish for digging holes; soft, sandy and with few stones. Our biggest obstacle was the old pieces of post that were buried deep down. Whilst the digging proceeded, Paul walked over to clear a lot of undergrowth blocking the stile at the other side of the field.
Nearly time for a coffee break
As there were five of us, we soon had all seven holes dug – time for a coffee break before assembling the stile and dog gate. We decided as the existing fencing was in a poor state we would put a section of fencing in place at the same time so another post was installed to finish off the job.
Another tidy job!
Everything went together well; while the finishing touches of waymarking and fixing the dog gate were done, all the tools were tidied up and we were ready to go to the pub. This was our last session for the year and possibly our quickest replacement stile this year.
Peter, Richard, Paul, Mark and Malcolm
We will be out once more this year for a social get together in the Green Man to celebrate another year of footpath improvements.
Fancy joining us next year? You would be most welcome, contact us at mac@milwich.com for more details.
Admiring the job!
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