General Chat

Sorry Lin & Gwyneth, Given up this tree felling lark. However, I can hire out to you a nearly new chainsaw, one careful owner. Likewise a bowsaw. Oh yes, and a nearly new Hippobag.....only got one of the two we bought carted away. Brian ;-0 (does that look like a smug face?, it's supposed to)

Hello Brian, Had a similar experience when we moved down to Wiltshire in 1985. There was a long line of about 28 fir trees between the house and the one next door. The owner lied through his teeth and declared that they did not impinge on the sunlight comming onto the property. The first weekend we were in the house, bright sunny day in January, just one narrow strip of sunshine along the front hedge line of the large front garden, and a small patch in one far corner of the rear garden, otherwise we were totally in shade. Then I noticed that our neighbours clearly didn't like the trees, as they had been hacking at them on their side, trying to thin them out. Go round to introduce ourselves, find they are getting no afternoon sunshine for the same reason, when the sun's moved round the tree line. A previous owner had obviously tried to poll them at half house height, then had given up, they now stood higher than the two storey house! Got out the long ladder, selected the weakest looking point in the barrier, shiined up and sawed the first tree down in three eight foot lengths. Repeated the process along the entire row, aided by the others, who saw what was happening. cheered and came out to help from their side. Eventually left just five in various places as boundary breaks. Once the shade was removed, with its sterlising effect on the ground along the hedge, the weeds went berserk, had to move into the next stage of the campaign, fighting the triffids, lol! PS, still good friends with our neighbour, who is still my dentist, so regular trips up to Wiltshire from Devon! Philip

Well done Brian. I know alot of people were worried about your safety. Glad everything went well. Now if ever you are down in Sussex..........

Brian got a job for you - One large oak tree needs a re-shape. Interested? Lin

Remember a coupla weeks ago I asked everyone for tips, advice, etc. for removing 2 trees ourselves? Well, we've done it! My other half and I sweated, grunted and cursed in between showers, and have completely demolished those trees; got rid of the leaves, got rid of the smaller branches, and sawn up the larger ones together with the trunk (which was a foot in diameter) into logs for our daughter to burn on their living room fire....all in 5 days!! Oh, and we have even saved all the sawdust for the rabbits cage! We bought a chainsaw and bowsaw, and a couple of Hippobags (see my follow-up message if you don't know what they are). That all came to £117 instead of around the £500/£600 we had been expecting to pay professional tree fellers. We are feeling quite chuffed with ourselves....splashed out on a meal at a local Brewers Fare to celebrate!!