Now off to get lawn fertilizer, clover, grass and wild flower seeds. After mowing we raked the surface quite hard to clean out dead grass, moss, thatch and scarify the soil to help with reseeding and regrowth. Years of leaving piles of mowings had resulted in dead patches and nettle growth.

The previous owners rarely ran a mower over this area and you literally couldn’t walk across without tripping over hidden broken branches lurking in the rough grass. With a window of sunny weather, we have spent three days cleaning and clearing eight huge piles of debris out to our top field for burning. I can’t compost it as so many weeds and roots from parasitical plants.

A spell of dry weather. I could mow at last. Three hours of slowly reducing the cutters from level six down to three with the odd stuttering stop as I hit a branch or two lost in the undergrowth. We raked most of it but it’s a lot to do by hand.

The brambles fought valiantly and will sneakily try to return but we have the measure of those guys. Cut down, let them regrow, then hit the young shoots with strong weedkiller. Dig the tangle of roots out after a month and celebrate. It’s not a bowling green but we do have a Petanque alley!