Now this is complicated to say the least. It all starts when I decide that my vast kitchen island is far too big, is scruffy and needs to be replaced. I find the replacement at The Cotswold Company (I could buy everything in this shop!) but what to do with the great big pretend marble top? I persuade the beefy blokes who had delivered some other furnishing to move the incredibly heavy ‘slab’ to the courtyard. The idea was that I would create something clever and arty there.
The new kitchen island is half the size and is just perfect, but the courtyard garden completely defeated me. The slab was a disaster and a trip hazard (as if I need another one) and I managed to catch my ankles on the corners every time I crossed the garden. It didn’t matter how I used it as a platform for pots, it was a monstrosity. There was a brief period of distraction with an extraordinary blooming of self-seeded forget-me-nots all over the ground but what a mess when the colour had gone.
I think it would be true to say that for most of 2026, I was not really in a very good place and so the shambles that was the courtyard was ignored. This year, I feel as if I have my strength back and I woke up one morning and I was on the case.
Safety goggles and a lump hammer were purchased, and I broke up the slab, putting the chunks into 17 plastic carrier bags – the only way I could move them. These went to the Recycling Centre as hardcore.
As a result of all this, the courtyard is looking so much better although I have learned that what would have taken two days when I was 30, can now take a fortnight. But I am thrilled with the effect.
