Lane gets tarmacced!
Lane gets tarmacced
After nearly 30 years of repairing our bumpy lane at very regular intervals, in 2017 we took the big decision to get it tarmacced! The first week of July saw the arrival of my cousin from Berkshire Daniel Hazell to commence the work with his trusty crew! We were blessed with glorious weather that week and everything went smoothly. The pictures tell it all! We are chuffed our lane has finally got tarmacced! I think our many visitors will be surprised at how smooth the lane is. Now and no one will have to consider the welfare of their car anymore. I bet the postman is happy too!
The challenge has always been to keep the rainwater from damaging the lane. With the precision of the up to date machinery in applying the correct camber and slopes we are confident it will last for many years. Preparation was key and the initial digging out and getting smooth before the planings were laid down took over a day. Each section of the lane was rolled at least 4 times during the week with 2 different rollers each with different weight distribution.
Most of the machinery came down on lorries from Berkshire but an excavator was hired locally. The tarmac planings – 9 lorry loads of them were delivered in June from GD Harries – were infact from the A40 when it was resurfaced earlier this year. The granite chippings were delivered that week. It was a busy few days but we are well chuffed with the outcome and want to thank Dan for his great organisation and skillful workmanship. How lucky we were that on the Wednesday when the tarmac was being spread over the chippings temperatures reached 30 degrees here at Old Oak Barn. It was not only the flowers that were wilting in the heat!
New Games
New games
A clear out of tattered board games this Spring has encouraged me to buy some new games which are everyone’s favourites. I decided to ask visitors what they would suggest and their responses gave me lots of food for thought. So this summer its out with the old and in with the new at Old Oak Barn! Thank you to everyone who gave me their ideas.
Below you can see some pictures of the latest purchases!
We have a great selection too of books for children and adults with an especially good collection of books of local interest for example “A Shilling for Carmarthen”, Natural History books about Skomer Island, a selection on the nearby Gardens eg Aberglasney – plus some books about life in St Clears earlier last century written by local residents.
In addition we replace old Dvds with new ones – eg “I Daniel Blake” and “La La Land” were bought in May 2017. The new Sony DVD player is capable of accepting a USB memory stick and nowadays visitors often arrive with their own supply of films in their pocket!!
If you have any good suggestions for new games please let me know and I shall put them on the list for the next upgrade!