underground, overground, ...

Visitors may have noticed some mysterious yellow chalk marks on the ground outside the church and in the old playground.  They are the result of the underground survey necessary before we start digging any more holes.   They have traced the route of the gas mains to the church and the house, which we now know are safely out of the way, they found where the water pipes and electricity cables go, and have had great fun exploring the main drains.  And they found two mysterious anomalies, lines of magnetic disturbance running parallel to each other, which may be the exhaust trails from a space craft but just might be old garden wall footings.  They were found by Ground Penetrating Radar, which basically does what we used to do with a hazel twig but more respectably.

Then there are a couple of bright yellow triangles.  These are what we used to know as "Trig Points", the basis of a new and more accurate survey of the site to make quite sure the building fits together as promised.

in the meantime discussions continue on the finer points of construction, the alternatives of cavity walls or solid load-bearing brick walls, the locations of electric sockets, computer cables, smoke detectors, all the little details.   Yes, it all takes time, which is why it is still not expected that we can begin the real work until the autumn. We will try to keep you suppied with pictures until then.  No luck yet in snapping the little Crested Grebes riding on their mother's back - in fact we couldn't find them last time we looked, and there were disturbing signs of fox activity.  We remain hopeful.  In the meantime, here's a Ground Penetrating Radar.