No mow ....

... year!  

When we moved in, there was a laurel/griselinia hedge between the garden and the roadside ditch.  One of the first major bits of landscaping was in the autumn of that year when Brendan came to prune the hedges, but we persuaded him to cut this bit down completely.

Then when the guys were here digging the pond they removed the stumps for us.

We've left it to do its own thing since then, concentrating on other areas.  But after seeing how nice the "controlled wild" ditch on the other side of the gate could look, I'm keen to do something similar this side.  I've spent some time and effort clearing the outside, but today made a start on the inside.  Mainly bracken, and some nettles.  But also in the barrow (seen in extras) is a huge quantity of sticky grass that was growing up the hedge.

A couple of hours was enough - it was another very hot day.