Cornish Stonework Blog

Finished the Mylor job then went to feock to create a garden incorporating two oval sunken areas and sweeping paths with sleepers and golden flint pebbles,A nice job but quite hard work as most materials had to be thrown up hill but a nice end result.

When that was complete I went to Luxulyan to repair a wall for an insurance company as We tend to do a lot of work for Axa and Norwich union

Finished digging out moongate ,laid the foundations and made a start and aquired an old street lamp made in the visick foundry in Devoran with the words Cornwall forged onto the side of it, I was very happy to have found this

Finished wall at Releath near praze then went straight to Mylor Downs for 2 weeks creating a splaid entrance and some retaining walls,also had a 2 page feature in the magazine Cornwall today featuring my garden which was really good.

Started to dig out site for my new granite moongate which would take a little time given that all soil has got to be removed by barrow

I completly let it slip last year with regard to writing a blog from June on but will endeavour to get in a routine this year, basically from june on I was juggling diffrent jobs and completing the annexe extension which is now complete and let.

That project alone slowed my progress in the garden but I was able to catch up in december when work eased off due to bad weather and I could build my new outdoor pizza oven which I was really looking forward to .This is shown as a before and after shot in my gallery,this was built in a 2 dome construction an inner dome using fire bricks and covering it with a ceramic blanket and an outer dome using old bricks to give it the aged look, all built with hydraulic lime to also givethe mortar an aged effect.

My next project at home is to build a granite moon gate and a pond to house my bronze water lilly fountain ,this work will begin in the weekends in february and continue through the spring .works ok running at 4-5weeks ahead -could be better-868 hits

I finished the Harlyn job on june 14th then moved the digger back down to mawnan smith where I had to take out a broken granite lintol and replace with a new one, this was a bit tricky given its weight but with scaffold and lifting gear it was done ok

I then Moved to Lanner to start a 2-3 week gardening job,reducing levels and terracing walls to change the level of the existing land, as I start the rain falls out of the sky !

I spent 2 weeks at Sycamore house moving @25 tonnes of earth and concrete to reduce the levels then laid 260 slabs to match with existing design,this was a nice job due to the kindness of the people I was working for

I then left Truro and heade to Harlyn bay near padstow to move 2 walls at a holiday cottage this work would take 3 weeks as we had a bank holiday and a trip to edinburgh in between,great weather and nice working conditions over looking the sea. Sometimes in winter you think when its raining why am I doing this but on sunny dayslike the last few weeks you think I am the luckiest man in the world

A good month hits on the website 346

First week in april was spent at mawnan smith,finally finishing current phase, I then spent two weeks home prepairing the steel ground beam that the piles sit on at the site of my new extension at home ,this was long and tricky work ,then I poured 14 mtrs of concrete to bring the slab to floor level

The last few days of april were spent starting a patio at sycamore house truro,a house I have worked on a few years ago
Web site is doing well with several enquiries

This month started wet but within a couple of days dried up ,which was what ive been waiting for all winter.We continued and finished walled garden at Mawnan Smith as shown in gallery for the first 2 weeks then went off to point near devoran to rebuild a hedge on the kiln house ,leaving there we went to Carlyon bay do build a small wall on a new site.

In the weekends I have been working in the garden continuing to create a 2.5acre woodland garden currently building a large retaining wall incorporating a celtic cross and a 4 circle design ,these 2 features are now complete and I am ready to start my next design which is a 5foot high circle with a cross in the centre of it -this is a cornish hedge retainig wall and therefore no cement.

In this month I also started the extension to a little flat I own ,you can see on the blog photograph the piling being done I hope this unit will be relet late summer

You will also see on the blog the latest aquisition for the garden a copper water lillywhich will sit in my pond, The garden is a long term project and will take @ 5 years from start to finish I hope,but as with all projects you must work to pay for it a bit at a time,im not sure what ive spent or what it will cost but Im guessing around £70 ,000 but it will be a one off and worth every penny

186 hits on the website @2 enquiries a week which is great .
March a good month

Started February again with rain nothing seems to change but thats the nature of this job so stop moaning and get on with it ! ,Anyway left the chuch and went back to a patio and landscaping job at Bolingey,a job We had to leave given the frosty cold conditions encountered earlier not suitable for cement

After that a small insurance job at Mount Hawke , damage caused by car sliding on ice into an old stone wall
After Leaving Mount Hawke we went staight down to a large country estate at Mawnan Smith to begin a 6 week project terracing an existing walled garden built in 1910

This is an awkward project due to access again and steady rain nearly every day, luckily We have our own mini digger which is extremely useful in tight areas i.e getting through 3 foot entrances

This job will take @40 tonnes of stone and 100 limestone slabs and 15 6 foot cornish granite steps ,an expensive job

Also in this month we subcontracted out some work on a set of barns at Newquay which was stone facing and pointing, sometimes it is difficult to handle a too much work with keeping the quality high ,so we sometimes use other contractors we can trust

Finally in February We were asked to do a small demolition job on a fire damaged building in St columb major ,not something we do a lot of but as we are being used on a regular basis by insurance companies ,We never say no
February wet but another good month and Im delighted to say 3 enquiries from the website and 92 hits ,Very pleased Mark

First of all a big thankyou to Joe Armstrong for creating this great website , Im sure given time I will be able to figure it out

January was a challenging month work wise given the poor weather conditions but luckily we never lost any time and the projects continued with out any disruption

We worked on a very difficult retaining wall for the Diocese of Truro at St Martins Chuch Liskeard,difficult because of its location and lack of access. This wall was collapsing over hanging some oap flats and needed scaffold erected to protect the buildings before We could start.

All stone We tried to reuse where possible but we also mixed in new from the most local Quarry to the area (Lantoon) The wall was lime built to match the old -A picture of this work is on the web site

Also in January We rebuilt a stone hedge at Cardinham damaged by the recent flooding in that area for an insurance company ,this work took 4 weeks

All in all a good month considering

New additions to the show garden at the Mowhay, cornish stoneworks home address.