Last week was more relaxed in terms of the gentle' pressure I was beginning to feel at the back of my mind that had built to a crescendo the previous week what with the committee, consultants... all wanting to see the first steps being made in the gardens.

The controlled, small-scale deforestation that took place last week has meant that a previously hidden perimeter wall, stunningly made using local slate, is now exposed and re-instating the visual impact they must have had 96 years ago when the garden was first created.

In places, the footings seem to grow out of the bedrock where the wall was built around the impressive local rock outcrops.

The stumps of the rhododendrons that were removed will be left and those that re-sprout will in the future (at least while I am around) be kept under control and managed to prevent the choking effect of long term neglect. Where the old rhododendrons grew on the bank, competition for light, soil and space meant that many younger trees were being suffocated, damaged and making badly formed specimens.

I have left a selection of the more interesting cultivars along the front, close to the track. I don't know what any of these selections are, but as in so many situations, the need to get on with the work necessitated such action. I certainly hope that those that remain can be identified when their flowers come out next year.

Mawson used Rhododendron extensively in his gardens and I hope that a large number will be re-planted around Rydal over the coming years to add variety, interest, both in flower colour/form but also in foliage. The dominance of R.ponticum in Rydal's grounds is something I intend to gently attack with sharp saws and the odd chainsaw wielding estates manger.

A massive area has now been cleared in what was only really three full days work. I find it quite disturbing how easy it is for one person to clear so much vegetation. But please don't be concerned readers; I have no intention to spread this practise beyond the gardens grounds. It is pretty drastic work, but good management regimes that need to accompany any large garden such as this have not been used (ever I think, or at least for a long time) here at Rydal, so dealing with this back-log does appear brutal, but once done sets us up for practical long term maintenance options that don't require Amazonian felling techniques.

Work has begun, tentatively I should add on reforming the 12 Yew trees that grace the main terrace. Long neglected, recently lopped and now to be re-trained, these fine specimens will over the next 3 years have their shape re-organized and wired up to turn these bloaty beer glass look-alikes I've inherited, into something more akin to a tapered overweight Christmas trees, sound convincing?