Thursday, 29 June 2000 brought us to one of Myerscough's farms, called Dinkling Green, where dry stone walls, some of them erected over a hundred years ago are still used to divide the fields. Over time, some of the walls crumble and gaps are formed. As part of a practical exercise on the proper way to construct a stone wall without mortar, we took to rebuild a section of the wall. This activity is very applicable to landscape design/management as such walls are often parts of modern landscapes and rock gardens. The exercise also brought us some practice on group activity as we prepare to do our garden installation and also gave us an opportunity to enjoy starkly beautiful scenery... although it was a bit chilly that day!
Below and at right: We proceeded to work in earnest, clearing the crumbled wall to foundations, leveling the area and slowly and steadily stacking the stones in appropriate manner, under the watchful eye of Chris.
Everyone participated with gusto and within 3 hours we had competed a section of wall approximately 10 feet in length.
We were fortunate to have a visit by a local monk (below) who blessed the wall (actually, it's just Matt in his mediaeval regalia!)... but we were quite proud of our accomplishment!
