I get it, I really do. It must seem like that.
And it would be a holiday if we could afford to pay for people to do all the work we do when we are over there.
In fact, if I am brutally honest, the land is too big for us now. Even though we only use half of it, so 3000 sq metres.
I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like if we didn't have the poly tunnel to tend, or the orchard with its 40 odd trees and all the fruit bushes, the almond tree, the pool, the hens etc plus what was unexpected when you pay for a house to be built and then have to constantly repair stuff, like the roof this year. And wood to cut. The constant need to simply "mow" the weeds with a big machine. If W wasn't so handicapped I could do what I do and she could do much the same, but as it is I have to do my stuff and her's too, largely. I loathe gardening and the agreement had always been that she would do a lot of it and I would just do the heavy lifting, but she takes for ever to do what she does as she weeds practically with tweezers, and takes an age to plant even the smallest plant.
The trouble is we bought a biggish piece of land as we wanted to not be bothered by neighbours. If we had wanted it to be easy to maintain we wouldn't have landscaped it as we did. With big gravel areas that need constant weeding, as the weed barrier never works properly, paths, steps, slabbed areas and other walled beds that need constant attention as she has filled them with a huge variety of plants. I cannot say that they were not worth it as they are totally gorgeous to look at, constantly something, in fact most of it, is in flower and the wild life love it too.
And the older you get the less energy you have. I was capable of doing three times the work in my 50s as I can now do in my late 60s. It would be much easier if we were there full time.
But hey, it is our bed, we made it and we must lie in it. If the pluses didn't outweigh the minuses, even though it sometimes seems like the balance is pretty even, we'd have sold up and given up. And what makes it even more OK is the lovely friends we have over there.
I know I moan a bit. Take it with a big pinch of salt!
It is taking us an age to get back from not being able to go over there for the time we normally did before Brexit then Covid cut in. The brambles march on like triffids. some of the problem is that the land is so fertile and things grow two to three times faster there than anywhere else we know. Even our neighbours are surprised. So W plants what she expects to grow into a medium sized bush and it turns into a tree in no time.
So we have decided to employ a gardener of some sort next year, although I cannot imagine W being able to find someone who would be happy to work as she would want him or her to work.
sebo.co.uk
