Once there was patchy green...

The new paving is on the left (the pathway on the right was always here)...there are still pavers and other bits of equipment on the far side of the pool waiting to be moved elsewhere.

Regular readers of Driftwood Ramblings will know that we were having our lawn removed in two sections of the garden and replacing it with paving this week. We had finally 'had it up to our necks' with battling to get our lawn to grow all summer long, only to have it die back and become a muddy mess at the onset of the winter rains each year.  With five dogs hurtling around the mud and ripping up the straggly bits of lawn, it was becoming even more a headache and so we decided to rip up the lawn and lay tiles instead.

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Unfortunately, in my great eagerness to have the paving job done, it hadn't occurred to me to take any BEFORE pictures...so just believe me when I say that, where before there was some green...very patchy...with lots of mud and several large craters that Toby and the puppies had dug in their enthusiasm to catch the resident moles...we now have super-neat, smart paving and I'm delighted with the outcome. I'll let the pictures we took today speak for themselves. We still have a lot of rearranging and neatening up to do, but the main job is finished, bar the special sealant/protector that needs to be applied to the new paving tiles. All things considered, the job went very smoothly. The team we had were super efficient and pulled out all the stops, so we could have our garden back as soon as possible. I think they felt sorry for me being confined to the garage area with the dogs all day, each day :)
 

Coco surveying the handiwork.

The midsection is new...it used to be patchy grass and, more recently, excavated by the dogs in their search for moles.

The pool is covered for winter. The new paved section is between the pool paving and the paved pathway adjacent to the house.

The new paved area ahead. The existing driveway paving was done 27 years ago.

The dogs and I were confined to the garage area behind the gate where the bakkie is parked while the team were on site.

We now have an extra bay for visitors' cars where before we had patchy lawn.

We were incredibly fortunate with the weather this week. Had it rained, things would have been even messier whilst the work was being done and had it been very windy, all of the builder's sand and dust from using the angle-grinders to cut the tiles would have got into everything. As it was, my husband sensibly pretaped all of the wooden window frames to ensure a good seal. However, as was to be expected, everything in the garden was covered in a thick layer of fine dust. Thankfully, nothing that a good hosing down wasn't able to rectify and it all looks 'good as new' once again. I can't tell you how delighted I am with the end result and the thought of no more mud, or more accurately, no more muddy paws to be towelled down in haste, as the puppies try to bolt past us on their way into the house.  Tomorrow, we'll be planting the best of the grass sods that were removed in the bare patches of lawn at the wetland garden and the small section outside my greenhouse. I am on a mission to get this garden spruced and trimmed before our winter weather sets in, so for the next few days I'll be pretty scarce in Blog Land ;)