Leanne, Ellie and I all arrived equipped with secateurs, and Leanne with a big pair of loppers poking out of her pannier: clearly we're all pros at this gardening lark :-) However even with all the layers we were getting cold already - better get to work!

After being shown to the garden by a friendly neighbour we set to it, as Leanne realised she'd seen this garden/jungle before - pleasingly her hard work on the patio last time hadn't quite been taken over again yet!

https://www.goodgym.org/reports/a-good-tool-is-hard-to-find

I got to work de-grassing the lower patio, Leanne set to with the loppers and Ellie worked her magic on the patio cracks. However, we were all slowly drawn down to the lawn.. variously following the twisted temptation of the giant brambles..

The more we tugged at them the longer they grew, spiralling through the lawn and around all the other plants. We slowly untangled and snipped at them, each working on a different area, and as we did we discovered all sorts of hidden treasures - it reminded me of Sleeping Beauty's sleeping castle! Amongst other things there was a dog, a horse/cow, a bird table melting into the grass, a series of coloured balls and a children's crawling tube (which I promptly got inside). We also unveiled a nice potted tree, a garden path and a greenhouse under attack from the brambles, as well as many fallen apples (full of sleeping potion??). The Christmas tree from the last visit was also still there!

Eventually our hands got too numb and the pile of garden waste too tall and we called it a truce for the day. A job well done - maybe we shall return to fight the bramble monsters again one day :-)