Result!

My furious phone calls and emails to John Lewis have paid off. I spoke to them today and they initially offered me a full refund for the trundle bed and mattresses, however when I said we were quite happy with the bed frames they offered me a 50% refund and I keep the beds and mattresses. This was a 'good faith' payment rather than admittance that the mattresses were unsuitable but that's fine by me. We'll go into Bensons again and order new mattresses to be delivered the next time we go to Borth. It'll cost a little more than the refund but we don't mind. I'm sure there'll be a charity in Aberystwyth who will take the original mattresses as I think they'll be fine for children.

Unlike yesterday which was sunny and windy which got the washing dry in no time today we had a grey start. By the time the washing machine was done the sun had come out and the washing dried nicely. It's already been ironed and put away before the latest lot of showers rolled in.

Despite trying to take things a bit easier this time my ribs have begun to ache again. I still got through today's house work and the ironing without too much trouble. (Cue the violins.)

This time in Borth we concentrated on the back garden which had become so overgrown that we couldn't even get into it. While Peter cleared stuff from the garage and coal store I chopped away at the growth until the path could finally be seen.

It is clear that this garden was much loved in its time by keen gardeners. The front garden and sides of the bungalow are filled with planters while the back garden boasted two greenhouses fully kitted out with staging and trays. With my aim of turning the garden into a future proofed ie. low maintenance garden I don't need the greenhouses. These are already being offered free to anyone who wants to come and dismantle them. Peter cleared all the rubbish out of the first greenhouse and he'll have to remove the wooden and metal staging before the greenhouse is ready to go. Across the end of the garden and about 10ft deep is a substantial wooden shed which we will be tackling next time. 

Opposite the second greenhouse was a wooden pergola structure which I took down. Then I turned my attention to two trees growing behind the pergola. The one next to the first greenhouse was tricky to cut down in that I didn't want the heavy branches crashing down through the greenhouse roof. The fence on that side is about 8ft high and the neighbours must have wondered what was going on as branches shook and then disappeared. I've left about 3ft of the trunk as I may let it stay as a smaller bush. There's a small mahonia? on the other side of the garden about which I haven't made my mind up as I'm not that keen on mahonias.

Here you see the tree safely down, half is in the skip and the other half piled up in the foreground. Once everything is cleared out it should all look a lot bigger. The current plan is for a sunny, sheltered courtyard garden with a washing line. 

After Peter cut back the street side of the front garden hedge I made a start at hacking back the hedge from inside the garden. There's now a massive pile of branches on top of the old lawn. Later the gang of sparrows flew down into the hedge with much twittering. I could imagine them saying 'Oi, what's happened to ar 'ome!' (Sparrows have to have a Cockney accent.)

As the sun goes down in the evening it lights up the hills behind Borth. Can't wait to go exploring.