'Woodland' view

A bit uninteresting to most, I expect, but I want a record! We've been planting various native trees in this area for a number of years and they're finally beginning to appear less like twigs and more as though they might consider being trees one day. The dense planting is deliberate as they are unlikely ever to be huge (the wind will see to that!) and should shelter each other a bit. You never know, maybe we'll even get a few more songbirds in the garden.

After yesterday's moan I felt I would be better for some good outdoor work. So the willow 'hedge' (tall, skinny willows are not naturals for hedging but this variety happily grows here) is now cut back to where it was 2 years ago. As we were unable to do this job last year it was interesting to see just how tall the growth had become! After I took the photo above I also got rid of the mantle of grass choking each tree and we can now run a strimmer through when the weather improves. And last, but not least, the elder bush was giving a first prune. It seems to love life where it is but I'm going to have to be brutal soon. Nice to see that some of its buds were already moving.

Talking of moving, it seems we have new buyers for our place in Shropshire. We checked with our previous buyers before accepting the new offer as we really didn't want to turn them down if they still felt they had a chance, but they've now withdrawn from the market completely until at least the end of March. I don't want to count our chickens but it would be an enormous relief to get the sale done and dusted.

The wind was less carnivorous than yesterday (I really felt it was peeling my skin off!) and although the thermometer says otherwise, it felt less cold. However, even the 4x4 slipped on the track today and we will have to try and get some salt on it soon if we want to get out again over the next few days. The forecast is that this chill is set to last for a while yet.