7 years of hard work - finished! :)

Andy

Honorary Member
Ok, this isn't a "show off how much money you've got" thread, quite the reverse actually :( This is the result of thousands of hours of hard work, & to get to this position, 3 previous total ground up house renovations across 25 years with me doing 100% of the work. Some of you have seen some pictures of work in progress before, but now the planting has matured, & all the periphery work is done, it's looking really good.

When we took this property over, it was a complete mess. You couldn't even walk on the grounds. it was just 8ft high brambles. The house weather tight shell was intact, as was the barn/garage frame, but literally everything else has been renovated/built. Apart from some machine hire, & a bit of labour help for concrete laying & boulder positioning, I've done every last bit myself, & mostly reclaimed materials/scavenged stuff.

Landscaping - especially water gardens, are my other "passion". Massive work. Over 400 tonnes of boulders, & in the grounds, we've moved over 16,000 tonnes of earth, planted 160 trees, etc, etc. This isn't a garden, it's a bloody park, lol!

Anyhow, apart from relocating the dragon carving (happening next Tuesday), I'm done, & I mean done for good. This is my last ever renovation & landscaping project. Am I proud - hell yes!

Edit: I've just noticed, there's no scale context to the boulders/waterfall. Each boulder weighs between 2 & 5 tonnes each. Waterfall is 8 foot high & pumps at 8USG/second.
 

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Beautiful estate there Andy. That's quite an impressive amount of work you did. Gotta love that English countryside. All you need now is a couple horses.
 
Thanks guys! I'm really keen not to give the impression of privilege or wealth. I was brought up in my early years in an orphanage, & crawled my way up from there. All funds for this house were generated by previous projects, & all the work was mine. We're talking 10's of thousands of hours work. Every evening, every weekend for years & years. Essentially, we bounced off the back of our own work. The only thing I was ever privileged to receive was a crazy hard work ethic.

BTW, hardly an estate. It's about 2 acres.
 
Looks stunning.
I have but a tiny vague idea of how much work that actually was.
Must feel like a lifetime achievement - and it is!
The best thing is: It's (almost) finished. Congrats. Enjoy it.
 
Congratulations Andy.

Every time I have finished a remodeling job, I have promised myself I will never do another.

I hope you don't sucked back into another one. I find that they chip away at my soul and turn me into an ogre.

What kind of roof do you have on there? I can't tell if it's an asphalt shingle or something else.
 
This is absolutely beautiful!

You have no idea how much money this property would be worth in South Florida. Probably upwards of 2 or 3 million USD

That's a crazy amount of work, and to think you did it yourself if crazy.

Congrats man! That's a ridiculously awesome accomplishment!
 
Wow, floored. Words fail. Just wow. The dragon is amazing. Did you carve that? Makes me want to torch my house and live there. Can I? Pretty please?
 
Awesome! We're in the process of building a house now, and our contractor is being slow. Can I expect to see you on site bright and early monday morning then? :)

Seriously though, that's an amazing job. Looks great!
 
BTW, hardly an estate. It's about 2 acres.

Having spend my entire life in two major cities, anything over 1/4 acre or bigger is an Estate in my book.

Now, if only there wasn't so much land and water between you and I, or else I'd say when's the house warming party!!
 
My jaw is stuck in the open position. Wow!!!!! Stunning, amazing, incredible, beautiful and to think you busted your ass and did it all. What incredible talent, dedication and drive.

How long does it take to cut the grass?

To think I'm dreading going out to do the much needed task of trimming our shrubs. I have no excuse but pure laziness.

Congratulations.
 
Very nice work indeed.
Is there a cricket pitch? Or croquet?
Now how do you do all that and have time to post so much on here, or make drums?
 
Oh Andy, that's absolutely gorgeous, you deserve to feel proud. You also deserve several beers. The dragon is MEZZIN!
 
Beautiful, beautiful place, Andy! Kudos to you! You deserve all the rewards of your labor.
 
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