Sphinxes finally find their home...

The sphinxes have made it to their final resting place, as guardians of the entrance to the gardens from the cocktail lawn. The penultimate time I was home the raised cocktail lawn was a brown mess of soil and weeds, but since then Peter has sprayed, harrowed, rolled, sown and rolled it again and thanks to the spring rain it has been transformed from that patch of dirt into a burgeoning formal lawn in just 4 weeks...

So, with no more ground work required we were able to take the sphinxes out of their crates and have them placed just so...

Above: View of the pair from the upstairs balcony.

I am enjoying seeing things starting to come to fruition, especially because the space now starts to take on some scale and perspective.

Above: View from ground.

Below: The view across the raised lawn towards Badger's Wood. The walls are yet to be plastered and the travertine steps yet to be set.

Keeping a watchful eye...

Some more photos of the spring growth...

Above and Below: Badger's Wood from Upstairs and Downstairs respectively.

Above: View of manor from Lime Walk, with the Bois de Marie to the left.

Below: Our first crop of hazelnuts starting to develop on the trees in the Bois de Marie. 

Below: A panorama from the end of the lime walk.