Thursday 8 September 2016

Continuing our work at Seldom Seen

Since our last blog post much of our time has been spent continuing the repair work on the path above the former mine workers cottages at Seldom Seen.

The photograph below shows a section of path that has started to erode quite badly. An old stone drain is at the bottom to allow a small beck to run across the path, but as the stone on the path above is very mobile this fills quickly with rubble. To stop further erosion and prevent the drain blocking up we decided that the best option was to pitch the whole section.

 Bags ready in place to start work

The stone drain was replaced and a new path was built.

 Repaired section of path

Directly above this section the path had really gullied out, you can see in the next picture just how high the bank has been cut away once the new path had been built.

 Path repaired before landscaping

One of the most important aspects of our job is trying to blend a new path in with the surrounding landscape. The following photo shows the same section of path once the bank has been graded. A large quantity of soil had to be removed (which was used for landscaping elsewhere) to create a more natural bank this was then turfed and seeded to help stabilise the bank and also speed up the vegetating process.

Newly landscaped path

The next section that we worked on had suffered a serious landslide which can be seen in the following photographs.

Starting work on another section

The new path includes much better drainage to help reduce the volume of water flowing down the path which should help reduce the chance of another washout.

Completed path

To help prevent the soil in the bank falling back onto the path when it rains the side of the path has been edged with large boulders which will be continued along this full section. We'll also spot turf the area and put down plenty of grass seed to try and stabilise it all.
Close-up of the landscaping on the bank