Digging To Find A Courtyard: Our One Acre Homestead in Ireland

Welcome to our one acre homestead in Ireland! Join us as we begin the long process of digging a large amount of soil to uncover what we hope to be a possible hidden courtyard that has been long forgotten. In this video, we begin removing years and years of top soil which we have been informed could have been manure and speculate on the possible use of what seems to be a slurry channel. Could this be a space for a future garden seat or outdoor dining area with a BBQ? Stay tuned for updates as we will hopefully transform this space into a functional and inviting area on our homestead.
Being complete beginners at farmhouse renovation and really needing a "homesteading for beginners" guide, we are taking it slowly, enjoying everything we do no matter how hard it is, to one day realise our dream of running a fully functioning homestead from our once derelict Irish Farmhouse.
There is something for everyone on The Corner House Project channel, if you subscribed for the derelict house renovations or just for the homestead in Ireland, we will bring the smiles, you sit back and relax and let us do the work.... well, Dawn will do the work.
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[@thecornerhouseproject]

Sorry for the late upload, our internet has been dreadful today. If you think you know what "The Worm" is, or what is defined as Cobbles, please leave us a comment and help us out. Thank you 🙂

[@flyingeaglewoman8682]

Internet has been dreadful across the pond too. No worries re late upload. I don’t consider them “late”. It’s all good, no expectations. What a fun adventure you two are having! Yeah!

[@MrBenchipy]

its a New Zealand flat worm they are invasive they kill all the earth worms

[@mauriced9335]

A Cribbie is the Irish nickname for a Kerbstone.😃

[@martinwyke]

Some kind of flatworm, perhaps Brazilian Obama flatworm, an invasive species to Europe.

[@flyingeaglewoman8682]

@@martinwyke 🤣🤣🤣

[@karelpetrnek3688]

Hello, the ancestors who lived on our farm knew why they had an entire stone courtyard. If you uncover everything, you won't have to walk in the mud.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Exactly! And oh what a joy it is to not being walking through mud all of the time. We will clear the other side in time as well and go back to how it was as close to original surface as we can get.

[@guanabacoaguajiraguanabaco3280]

I think it’s good you guys are taking your time in going carefully thru the land. A digger will do things quick but will likely cause a lot of damage, not just to the green patch but likely also to the stones underneath the mud and any other treasures you guys might find. Everyone always wants to do things in a hurry, and there is really no need. The process, although backbreaking, it’s probably more enjoyable and rewarding as a result. I have little by little been catching up to all your videos and they are really enjoyable. You have a lovely piece of land, God bless you all! 💚

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you so much for your comment and also for embarking on trying to catch up with all that we have done. This was our thoughts exactly with a digger, it was never our intention to remove all of the soil to begin with, but once we saw the first bit of the old farm yard appear we knew we couldn’t leave it covered over without knowing what was there! 😂 We have plenty of time to do all the things we are doing and like you say so much more rewarding and enjoyable seeing it appear bit by bit. We would have been so disappointed to have pulled all of that out if we had used a digger. 💚

[@debraimmer260]

That is a wonderful discovery

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It was Debra until we realised that our pretty much done raised soil area needed to be dug out as we couldn't just leave whatever was buried underneath it buried. So we dug and dug some more. We are pleased with did though as it's future, although not set in stone, should be a nice patio area keeping the features uncovered. Thank you for binge watching :-)

[@debraimmer260]

@@thecornerhouseproject Because of all your hard work, some wonderful day your property is going to be amazing

[@debcross2335]

It would be lovely to have a little cobbled courtyard to sit outside and have your tea 😊

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hopefully Deb this is what we will end up with. Hopefully without any spoilers for you, we will end up with a patio and keep some of the original courtyard / farmyard features as part of the patio. We can't see that being this year though :-( Thanks for binge watching :-)

[@helentaylor4911]

I would say that area was used as a cattle yard, which would provide years of animal slurry. It will make great growing compost.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Despite the soil being very water logged it really is good soil….especially when you get right down to the floor level! The people who we bought the house from had cows, pigs, hens and horses on the land so yes, plenty of manure there! 😊🥳

[@neutonrenda2303]

It's amazing that nobody that has previously known the property knew about that paved area. I think that by uncovering it all you'll probably be solving a lot of the drainage problems, and have a wonderful area to use. It's fascinating that it's been covered for so long, I'm loving your use of the soil as well.❤

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good evening Neuton, how are you? Already the drainage down the back of that outbuilding has improved and the stones look great once the rain has given them a wash. It was the first question I asked the lady who lived here when she came round. She said she had never seen those stones which at the time was just the path. Credit to all of the commenters for the good idea for the soil :-) Thank you as always :-)

[@susanlucero5958]

❤ I think this is my favorite episode!

[@nannylinda03]

It looks like a flatworm and if it's the New Zealand or New Guinea flatworm, they are not good as they are predators to our native earthworms which we need for the health of the soil. I'm in awe of you two! You work so hard. It's looking really good.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

I’ve had a Google and it was definitely a New Zealand flatworm 😔 fingers crossed we don’t find anymore. Neither of us had seen anything like it before. Wasn’t keen on it…looked horrible and got so long! I’m hoping that because we have seen sooo many worms that we only had the one of the flat ones! Aww thank you, it is looking good, hard to see it when there’s mud all around but when we stop and stand back in does look like quite impressive there by the outbuilding! ❤️

[@flyingeaglewoman8682]

@@thecornerhouseprojectI’d not be keen on it either, eewwww. I’ve never heard of that worm, good to know about those icky creatures.

[@patsampson6990]

I found your channel about a month or so ago and am enjoying your discoveries so much! I hope you haven't stopped filming. I notice nothing newer than 2-3 months ago and not more recent. But I'll keep tuning in to see how far I get to join you on your journey! I'm 69 yrs. rapidly approaching 70, I hope I get to see the court yard uncovered! Nice you getting work done outside while you can, because when the weather turns you'll be back inside working! Which is just as interesting to me. See you on the next installment!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Pat, here is our complete playlist. kzbin.info/aero/PLn3p4fQJRREfIf2I76Dud6qkPTC0EHPrF For some reason it isn't showing videos from two months ago. You can find them here until I find out why they are not there. www.youtube.com/@thecornerhouseproject/videos

[@kategreen-adarkcarnival6747]

Cobbled courtyard makes sense guys! Can I suggest you have a look at Charles Dowding no dig approach for your veg beds (KZbin). His work is a fabulous resource - tons of free stuff. Can use cardboard on weedy ground (beds) and put your soil from the cobbled area perhaps mixed with some well rotted (2 year old) horse manure. No need to dig! Kxx

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good evening Kate, how are you? Ooooh no, we don't intend to dig, that sounds like hard work haha. We have the plots laid out and it seems the soil we are digging could be manure originally, which would explain why the soil is so good. We will have a look at his youtube, thank you very much indeed :-)

[@pennyneal2456]

If you put in anymore raised beds, you might think about placing flattened cardboard down first. I saw this on a vlog called French Farmhouse.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Yes we have seen that too on various channels. We started putting some down underneath the logs and sticks for the hugelkultur side of things. We still have the actual surrounds of the raised beds to do yet. We are sooo slow haha. Thanks Penny for watching and commenting :-)

[@neutonrenda2303]

It looks as if you are still both enjoying it, that's what is the most important part.❤

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We are loving it. It is slow work, digging down to find the level just before we dig through it but worth it :-)

[@GardenDiscovery]

I 100% agree, save the soil for raised beds!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

That is exactly what we are doing. We took the advice from so many commenters to make raised beds and the soil is so rich it is lovely. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@strawberryfair]

just noticed you’ve hit 5000 subs, incredible!!! congratulations you two

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you so much!! It is always nice when Luka brings the cats out. There is only Alan who likes to come out though really, apart from when it is raining and he gets muddy paws. Thanks for watching and commenting and the congratulations :-)

[@janscorza7549]

You can used some of the soil to fill in the low area where you have standing water. I’m a big fan of raised beds, the older I get the harder it is on my back and knees to get down ground level. And you can put chicken wire around then to keep the bunnies out.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww I just have to say I love that you said bunnies! 🐰 I’m with you on the back and knees…I can bend down ok, it’s the making my knees work again to propel me back up that’s the problem! 🤣 Good thinking with the soil for the low spots….we have plenty of those! We will most likely do the 2 maybe 3 raised beds, so will still have lots left to fill low spots.

[@catherineritter3408]

You two are working so hard! That said you are exploring your land and digging up the past. I am thinking the trough between the stones was for animal waste not a cobblestone terrace. The practicle side of having farm animals! That is also probably A part of the dirt pile...the old manure pile! Keep on digging it out as you are doing. Getting the dirt away from the buildings will certainly help with drainage. You have plenty of stones for the terrace! Great idea for the Raised beds! I am ready to see more Granny Kit (83) from Oregon.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good evening Catherine, or should we call you Granny Kit? Thank you for joining us this evening. We agree with you 100% with the trough, we now just want to know where it goes haha. From peoples comments and farmer neighbour next door, we do think it was an area for animals or the dirt pile and we are digging it out. The cabbages, once planted should do well. Have the dirt away from the building from Dawn digging the path out has made such a difference to how the water moves now. Before it just sat and seeped out of the soil very very slowly, now it just runs into the ditch. They certainly new what they were doing when they laid the stones. We will be here Wednesday so there will be more to see. It is a slow process but we will get there. Thank you so much for watching and commenting all the over in Oregon :-)

[@SerendipitySharon]

yes, I bet it is a drainage channel and I bet the stones slant down. Perhaps by the edge of the outbuilding where you say the cobble is might have ended with a stone wall. The farm has been well loved. So glad you are not using a digger, what treasures you are discovering bit by bit. you can always surround your tin raised beds with stones in a couple of years. Use your intuition with the stones, one by one, you will have to patch the area anyways, will be a beautiful patio!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Yes I think you’re right with it being well loved. For it all to still be here, it has certainly been looked after. It’s amazing to think that all the things that helped run this farm still exist here. We have found parts of an old horse cart too. I’m sure we could rebuild one if we took stock of all that we have saved! Yes the stones do slant down. Fingers crossed we might find out whether a stone wall existed. X

[@catherineritter3408]

I googled Flat worm and it sure looks like it! Something to look up and get info on. It says to drop them in salty water to kill them and do not handle them!! Hope this helps

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you Catherine. We have read to stop them from being in the garden with that method. My foot will work well too :-) Ooooh now, the gloves will be staying on hahaha. Thank you again :-)

[@BlueGrassWalkers92]

Used the corrigated iron as arised beds on two sides in the middel a big trunk and at the end of the iron they were keptin shap by wooden postes. So they looked like ships and she used them for beans and tomatos…

[@thecornerhouseproject]

That was the plan initially as we needed somewhere for the soil but we ended up with five piles of soil on what was a nice patch of land which looked terrible, like graves. We now have one large pile of quality soil and have gotten rid of the five piles. Weren't not really ready for veg beds and the like so it isn't a problem. It was handy to have somewhere to pile it all to initially though. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)

[@terrybull1043]

I think you might need a bigger drainage ditch around the side it might help with the water retention

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Terry Yes, this will be made wider and deeper in the end. Deeper to catch whatever the land and gutters throw at it and wider to move it faster from the area. At the moment we are just "playing" with any little channels we dig but in the future bigger channels will be dug, maybe by hand hahaha. Thanks again for commenting again :-)

[@dcimedic]

I would start the digging with a path from the door straight out. That way you have a path to make rolling the wheelbarrow easier.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Well funnily enough, today I did another row of digging along to the ditch and then I said to Ben “tomorrow I think I am going to start digging from the doorway down to hopefully get a hard patch to be able to stand and barrow on because it is getting harder and harder to get the barrow across the squelchy stuff!” Great minds think a like! 👍

[@patriciasmith9712]

Congratulations on 5000 subscribers, a lovely channel

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww thank you Patricia! We’re chuffed to bits and still highly amused (in a nice way) and amazed that we have managed to gain all these subscribers! We thought we’d end up with a few hundred at the most when we first started!

[@mimiedacuycuy1651]

A small digger can gelp a lot as you can control how far down it can get... Little soil left can then be shovel by hand, just saying... Sometime me watching you makes my might run wild thinking that's a great courtyard... congratulations you hit 5K!!! slow process yet lots of interesting finds!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Mimie It isn't just the control of the digger, it is the fact that it will destroy so much more land just getting it where it would be needed. Or we end up with a huge pule somewhere else. Slowly and surely we will get there by hand. Hopefully we won't be disappointed with what we find and of course you will see it as we do. Thank you so much with the congratulations, 5k subscribers is amazing for us. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@susannemcmahon6093]

What a wonderful find .so happy to see the progress. 🎉

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww yes it really is, it’s going to be so amazing to see it all uncovered….fingers crossed it carries on appearing as we dig! We’re glad you’re enjoying seeing it appear as much as we are 😘

[@brendagillespie2165]

Here in the US we have small garden tillers that loosen the soil. It would go thru work shed passway If it could be used the shoveling would be easier in your back and progress would be faster. The soil might be to wet though. You probably already know this. Lol. I look forward each day you post for what you discover and seeing results of your hard work. Great job you two👍🏻

[@thecornerhouseproject]

That sounds like it could work, if we find it is taking too long to do…we will see what the local hire place has that might help a little, but yeah you could be right and the land is a bit too wet…it certainly is at the moment lol we could make mud pies a treat right now! Aww thank you that means such a lot to us that you look forward to seeing us and our discoveries 😊😘

[@shannongarlitz8434]

So fun to see so many more subscribers! You’re doing a great job.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It is incredible Shannon, we are so so pleased. Nice that you are one of them, so thank you very much :-)

[@johnoneill5812]

It's fascinating to think of what life was like when those buildings and courtyard were constructed 200+ years ago. The width of a raised garden bed should be governed by how far the shortest gardener can reach to pull weeds and still maintain balance. Wish I could be there to help, I don't know much about gardening but I do know which end of the shovel goes in the ground and would work for a few pints of ale :)

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good afternoon John, we hope you are well. We often sit and chat about what it must have been like. The water well is 110m down the road, there was no electric people got up when the sun came up and went to bed when it got dark. This house certainly wasn't here, and we don't think the farmers house at the time is still standing as many building have since gone on the homeland. It is sad that we will never know about the full history of this area as we are dying to know all we can about it. Yes, 4ft may be a little wide for Dawn, but I will get her to stand by the side of one before I put the final screws in place. Thank you for the advice on this :-) John, a little trip to the airport, we will collect you this end. Are you OK with a sofa bed? Thank you so much John for always being here :-)

[@tracybrown6207]

eewww to the flatworm thing. Check with the council as I know you used to have to report when you found one. Always water in a tree/plant. It is not only to give the plant a drink but it also flattens air pockets - if there are air pockets it can make roots die off and kill the plant. So maybe just a quick water for the soil to settle in around the roots. You did make me laugh at the end Dawn.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

www indeed! It was horrible! I will have a look and see if we need to do anything about it. The land is quite waterlogged so I think we will be fine for not watering the plum lol. We started digging the hole and water appeared 😂 I’m more concerned that it has too much water 🫣 haha I had to watch the end of the video to see what you meant because shhh but I hadn’t watched it! 😂

[@DennisWhite-s5k]

You need a very stiff bristled yard brush or a large scrubbing bush so that when you get a dry spell you can brush the slabs clean. When you do this you will see where stones need to be replaced. It will be slow hard work but think how impresive it would look when done.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww it really will look good once it’s all done. We have a small stiff brush but we were saying about needing a stiff broom because ours are yard brooms but they’re not really stiff enough.

[@patkilmurray4702]

I'm over the moon happy for you, you're both archaeologists now, what magic lies beneath. I feel for you though as it's such a lot of work but so worth it in the end, thanks for the reply by the way, appreciated, I think us viewers have become quite fond of you both, wish we could help you dig.😊

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you so so much Pat. Hopefully lots of magic and not too many tree roots. We certainly don't chose the easy path do we? But, how could we have left it covered up without investigating it first. Now look, we have tonnes of soil to move hahaha. Everyone deserves a reply Pat as people have given thought to a video and taken time to do the comment, so we reply to all. I am not sure at what point we will spend more time replying than actually doing anything else, but until that time comes, here is your reply from us :) We have grown fond of all of our regular commenters and quite often when we are working or whatever and will say "Oh someone said XYZ the other day" and one of us will remember who it was. We do appreciate all of the comments, 99.9% of them are lovely. We don't mind, you can watch us dig. Pretend you are sat on a bench watching us :-)

[@theirishhomestead]

Huge congratulations guys on achieving now over 5k subs. Well deserved. I love you have a courtyard. So much history. ❤

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thanks very much. 5k is massive and was celebrated with a cake and a candle. Actually a chocolate mini roll and a candle. The courtyard is exciting, we are loving uncovering various things and trying to keep as much as we can in it's original state.

[@WitsEndGirl]

You guys look like you're enjoying the challenge. I'm sure you get loads of free advice. I can recommend an excellent resource for starting veg beds on less than idea ground. Charles Dowding on KZbin is a mine of advice for 'no dig' gardening which completely changed the game for home growing. No digging the beds at all. I've subscribed to see your journey. Good luck

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you very much for subscribing. We can do with all the help we can get with gardening as we are not green fingered in the least. Charles Dowding is now on the "to watch list". After this lot of digging, I like the sound of "No digging the beds" hahaha. Thanks again :-)

[@suzanneperkins4549]

doing a great job guys it looks so nice. you should take those pieces of sheet metal embrace them with sticks and go around a couple of those piles of dirt. You have out there and make some beds for a little vegetable garden. You have some carrots and leeks and a row, onions and beans and you could dedicate to potatoes . Just a thought unless you’re gonna move them soon, dedicate them this year to a little garden area with those pieces of metal around it . Blessings.😊

[@thecornerhouseproject]

That’s a great idea and that was going to be their use but we changed our minds in the end and used some of the old wall panelling and floorboards to make a couple of raised beds. This year time has run away with us too much to get round to growing anything much but next year we will definitely start with growing more things.

[@jmck6320]

Sterling work! I'd imagine all the cobble nuts are stones that they had that fitted. Hundreds of years of footfall you are uncovering

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It is the hundreds of years which make is so exciting for us. The large outbuilding has a large stone step and that is worn with the number of feet that used it. When we uncovered that we were "wow, it is worn away". We really are loving it :-) Thank you Jim as always :)

[@Grandmotherof3]

I looked up images of leeches and it sure looks like a leech to me! Yikes! Love the surprises your new home keeps giving you!

[@morrigans_cottage]

Another lovely video! I feel like every video you uncover more and more history to the place which is just lovely to watch! It’ll be great to see your garden beds thriving by the end of spring and summer! The weird slug thing I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s giving me the creepy crawlies 😂

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Oooh I know…isn’t it just the oddest looking thing? We’ve never seen one before either…very strange it is was. We haven’t planted anything yet 😮 I have the seed trays and I bought compost a couple of days ago so we need to get a shift on! Absolutely love the history of this place it’s amazing! 🤩

[@morrigans_cottage]

@@thecornerhouseproject still plenty of time for planting, I was meant to get my bits planted this weekend but that didn’t happen but next weekend for sure! My first raised bed also looks like a grave 😂

[@TomMaxwell-g1x]

re-watching some past video's as was missing you guys , take care and see you when your ready to come back in the meant time i have about 18 months of footage to watch xx love Tom

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww thanks Tom that’s lovely to read. I was just talking about you yesterday as it goes! I was emptying some rubbish into one of your old coal bags and said to Ben “I’m glad we said Yes to Tom’s bags because they’ve come in sooo handy!” Fingers crossed we can get back to filming soonish. Xx

[@micbarker6256]

Critter is a land flatworm

[@thecornerhouseproject]

A quick Google Mic and you are spot on. We hadn't seen one before. Thanks for watching and commenting and also subscribing to our channel :-)

[@andie1769]

Oh brilliant! You have found gold! 😊

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We have something, I am not sure it glitters though, not yet. A bit more time.... well, lots more and I am sure it will be something to step back and look at proudly. Thanks Andie for always watching and commenting :-)

[@mocarra100]

Very nice find, you guys. You'll be so glad you did it at this time of the year, can you imagine trying to get through that hard dry soil, in heat I don't know how hot it gets there in the summer? I can see the lake on the camera and the stone wall looks really good! You have very beautiful scenery to look at. I always thought it was crazy in Ireland it could be lashing down and then the Sun comes out. Here in Oklahoma, most of the time when it rains, it rains all day, and then the next day is usually fine. Yeah you should find a place to put that soil to use for compost gardens. Another great video, and another great job of getting the garden sorted. Much love from Oklahoma USA Jackie 🇺🇸💖 PS you might want to make sure that tree is not going to get too much water that can cause them to die and that water was filling up in there pretty fast?

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good morning Jackie :-) We think it may have been very warm doing it in the summer out the back there. It doesn't get hot hot over here, 25 I would say it the hottest but not checked that for truth. The soil may have been easier with a weeks worth of no rain, but we will sort it, you know us :-) Yes, rain followed by sun, or sun and rain. You see so many rainbows over here it is amazing even in the winter months. I think the only way to prevent the large amount of water down the land would be to put it in a raised bed. We will be keep a close eye on it and also our fingers crossed. It was filling pretty fast, but to be fair, we have had a very wet 2 weeks. Thank you as always Jackie, have a lovely day :-)

[@shrory]

Time to hire a backhoe for 1/2 a day, to clear that top soil off the slabs

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Too late lol. We did it all by hand. Hard work but very little of the stones were undisturbed as a result. Maybe next time. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)

[@rmd3677]

The width of the raised bed should allow you to comfortably reach the centre of the beds so it is less backbreaking for you to weed some or harvest

[@thecornerhouseproject]

A great tip thank you. We will check the reach whilst making the enclosures :-)

[@micheledenise2305]

I would fill in to make a bigger stone patio with ur extra stone!! It will be beautiful this summer to build a wood table and have a place to grill out! U have so many stone u could do that well while the ground is soft..😊

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Ooh that sounds lovely and fingers crossed for a better summer this year than last, so that we could actually sit out! Can’t wait for the summer to come round…also fingers crossed we will have finished digging by then!😂🤣🤣

[@Cuernavacachica02]

Uf! So hard to be digging something and you're not sure to do with it but I get it. Even so, it's an interesting predicament isn't it! Love you guys! Take care and see you next time!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Yes, it is a bit of conundrum! We’ve had plenty of good ideas from people commenting though so I’m sure we can distribute it around the land….the predicament comes from how squashy the land is and how many times will the barrow go over a place before it sinks! 🫣 You take care too and see you tomorrow, hopefully at the right time! 🤣

[@ContinaHarada]

It looks like a Flatworm. I just googled 'Picture of Flatworm Ireland' and found it.😊❤

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Morning Contina With a Google after reading comments it seems to be a flat worm. Possibly an invasive creature. We will have a good read for the best course of action. Thanks for watching and commenting and letting us know what you think it is :-)

[@wheretheroadtakesus523]

The paved area is going to look so good. Could make a beautiful outdoor dining area. Be great to see when you finish. Great idea having raised garden beds with all the dirt you remove. Congrats, on 5k.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We do hope so and really hope we are not all disappointed by the time it is all cleared and cleaned off, that is if there is anything to clean off. We can't take the credit for the raised beds, it was a lot of commenters who suggested it but it is a great idea. Thanks for the congratulations, 5k is amazing, we would have never said that in 9 months we would be at 5k. Thank you for being one of them. All the best :-)

[@maura423]

The stones are an exciting mystery! I was going to say you should soak bare root plants first, but I don't think it's necessary in your case 😂

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Oh they really are! So excited to get it all done and see what it looks like. Hahaha yes, we do have rather a lot of water to soak roots. We’re hoping it’s not too waterlogged down there for it. The other trees seem to like it alright and fingers crossed we can get the drainage sorted so that the trees can stand upright from now on! 🤣

[@PJ-polly]

Hi I came across your lovely KZbin channel the other day and have been enjoying your videos i am now going back to view the start of your journey 😊 i am now following your wonderful journey

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Aww thank you and welcome! ❤️ We hope you enjoy watching them all. Fingers crossed the early ones aren’t too harsh on the ears and eyes! Luckily things have improved with time!

[@suzannegerstner2841]

I think the worm is a flatworm as well. I think you have found a drainage channel there, which would definitely help out Making progress there and you have the wider path now to work from on the building as well. What your doing is important because it will help dry out the buildings, and help drain away current rains quicker. So kind of your neighbor to gift you the first new tree on your land! I laughed as the beds currently do look a bit grave like. Keep up the good work!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hahaha they really do look like graves…not sure I like it to be honest! Haha. Ben’s on that today though so hopefully they will look less grave like by the end of the day. 🫣 It’s making it so much easier to dig with having a wider space to move in. If we’d had known from the beginning we would have chose a more open space to start digging from lol. All we wanted was a small little path! Haha! It should help with the drainage hugely. ❤️ we were so chuffed when he gave us the tree…our first tree planted! Hopefully in time we will get to plant more. 😊

[@russgaulke1364]

Congratulations upon reaching 5000 subscribers!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you very much indeed Russ, we are gob smacked. Thanks for watching and commenting and although we can't see, hopefully being one of the 5000 :-)

[@russgaulke1364]

Of course@@thecornerhouseproject

[@marionmounsey4737]

Oh guys how exciting to see all that lovely stone uncovered, it’s quite magical 🧙 it’s like your bringing the land back to life, as it once was. You both work so hard, but so worth it, definitely not to get a digger, it would ruin the structure and could mess it all up🤗hopefully the rain will stop soon, to be able to see the cobbled courtyard as it once was ☘️you have a delightful plot of land, love watching all the progress ❤️your amazing xxx🙌

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It really is isn’t it? To think of the people that walked there before us is unreal! The thought that the floor may not have been seen for at least a 100 years maybe more is fascinating to me/us! Oh most definitely with no digger…we would have been horrified to think that a digger would have pulled those stones out! I think we have rain forecast for the coming week but fingers crossed not too much. Back to it tomorrow to try and find some more! Very exciting! Thank you Marion, always like your comments, you seem to think along the same lines as us for things! ❤️

[@stuartmoles843]

Just found your channel, what you have found is the slurry flush from those animal sheds. Family has a farm in Wexford, deffo would be using a JCB, although I’m pretty time poor😂

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Stuart, thanks for commenting. Yes, it is like the one in the larger outbuilding but this smaller building seems to have had the gully taken out inside and concrete laid. A couple of flag stones remain still but that is it :-( We are interested to see how long the gully is outside. How long is your parents? Although we realise each will be different if not unique. A JCB, Mini Digger or the like would be lovely but not happening for so many reasons. At the moment, just taking the wheel barrow to the raised bed area is now so muddy, your foot sinks down to the bedrock. It also means we can take our time in making a mess instead of a fast mess with a digger lol. Thanks again and have a good Easter :-)

[@stuartmoles843]

@@thecornerhouseproject The ones on my parents farm aren’t that long they just go clear of the buildings by about 8ft to allow a machine with a front bucket to clear easier than barrow from the shed. Back in the day they would have just loaded it onto a horse drawn trailer. You may well find that the yard is not totally paved, a bit hit and miss, later yards were concreted.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Fingers crossed it goes all the way, because we need some pay off for all digging! 🤣 to be fair just anything solid and non sinking would be amazing!

[@williamfrasermilne]

Nice work looking forward to the end results. Your raised will take a lot of filling. If you had cardboard I would have put that down then your soil you could put some wood chips in the beds also. Keep up the good work.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good evening William. Yes, that is the plan.... we have lots of soil available lol. Because we wanted to make a start with the digging, once the raised enclosures are made, I thought we would put the cardboard in then. We may also go with some rotting logs for the Hugelkultur approach. Thanks for always joining us :-)

[@bobbiebrandel3152]

You need a wheelbarrow like mine. It is a Rubbermaid wheelbarrow, has 2 huge wheels on it and holds a bunch. It is so much easier to use than what you have, and holds a lot more. Check one of those out. I've had mine for years and recently bought one for our son, who loves the thing. It rolls so much easier.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We’ve been saying we need to get another barrow because one isn’t enough really when we’re doing jobs like this. There is another barrow that we have, it was in the bigger outbuilding but wow, it is soooo heavy even with nothing in it! I will look into your barrow because that sounds just perfect.👌

[@DenisPeel]

Hi guys! congrats on the 5k subs, see ye are famous. I see below that your New Zealand flat worm has been identified, yuk, I found them in my garden too, so disgusting that our hens wouldn't eat them! I found similar gullies outside my cottage and as you are finding the largest stones line the sides of it, the area surrounding it is just a mix of what was left over after building the house/byre as a hard standing area. The gift of the plum was lovely, you will always remember the first tree. I made my raised beds from corrugated iron too, I cut the sheets into 1/3 rds to get approx. 9 or 10 inches depth, I joined the corners with some flat tin the same height as the bed bent at 90% and then pop riveted them together on the outside covering the ends, it looks quite neat. Denis

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good morning Denis. Thank you very much. Maybe 5k people famous haha. That can't be good when not even a hen will eat them. If we find any more we will do what needs to be done so it does keep doing what it does, if you know what I mean. We are looking forward to seeing how far the gully goes, we are hoping to the end of the area but time will tell. Yeah we are chuffed to bits with our Plum tree present. Hopefully we don't drown it where it is planted. Well today is the day for my poor craftsmanship to shine, lets see how I get on hahaha. Oh.... Dawn found another tooth to the scythe as you said she would and we still have the actual blade. We found it when we were clearing out the large outbuilding last summer, we thought we had kept it, and indeed we did. Have a nice day ahead and thank you again.

[@linesteppr]

Great idea with the raised beds. It will be SO MUCH easier to work in that soil without having it squish under your feet while you're trying to plant and weed.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We can't take the credit for the raised beds it was all of the commenters, it will be much nicer, you are right. Today I took the barrow of soil over the the raised beds and nearly lost my wellie lol. I think the land needs a bit more work. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@Marie-yx5ie]

You could fill the bottom of the raised bed with all the trees dibre. I planted a Victoria plum tree 6 year's ago, so I am hoping to get fruit this year.. It's a self poleenated tree 👍

[@thecornerhouseproject]

6 Years :-( Is that how long we will have to wait - Oh no. Yes, our friend said it was a self pollinator which is great. The first bed is past stuff at the bottom as we just wanted to make a start on the digging. The second bed may get special treatment though before we put any more soil down. We have plenty of tree trunks and logs to put in as well as cardboard. We will keep our fingers crossed for plums on your tree. Please let us know :-) Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@SweetOne.]

this is very exciting. It is possible that there was another building even a few buildings in that area for washing clothes or baking bread, you might find some footings or part walls. Stones from when the small barn roof collapsed could also have been piled there. I am curious about where the tree fell at the end of the building where the ditch is running through to the front on either side of the ditch what you will find under all those vines, tree roots and debris. It's a lot of work but it's going to be so worth it, getting all that soil off the stones will allow it all to drain for the 1st time in 100 or more years. You can lay more stones or reset stones and do a dry wall or garden feature along the ditch bank. It's going to be so beautiful!!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

How exciting, really exciting Janie, we are loving it. Dawn just sat and said about 10 minutes ago "reading all the comments just makes we want to go out and dig. But when out there I look at it and I don't want to dig" hahaha. It is hard, slow work making sure we don't go too deep or dig up any stones we shouldn't but we are really enjoying it. We don't think there are any more buildings that were in the immediate area but there was a small building at the end of the stone wall under the now Horse Chestnut tree. We can't find any trace of it though, but we will keep looking. The gap between the two buildings is on the soon list, as we clearly don't like to rest haha. It used to be called the "sink" I am guessing because the water used to get thrown down there. Now it has HUGE stones in it, not sure I can life them HUGE, but we will get them out at some point. That gap is key to our planned drainage around the house and into the ditch. We may place large stones back in there depending on what we find as we do like to go that way to the back area for a change :-) Fingers crossed, we, and you (and 5000 other subscribers) won't be disappointed once the soil has gone. Thank you as always Janie, have a nice evening :-)

[@SweetOne.]

@@thecornerhouseproject I'm trying to get a picture in my head of the "sink" area but I'm drawing a blank. Have you filmed it already? My Grandma's house had the old outhouse and a wash house. The wash house was used for cooking and doing laundry, water was let go into the gutter or used to scrub the floors and outside steps before she scrubbed them with a Donkey Stone. She used to get the cleaning stones from the rag man (I called him ragbones). If you don't remember the rag man your parents will lol Stone Outhouses: Honeywagon people were called "honeydippers" because they literally had to dip the waste from the hole in the ground in the outhouse to clean and empty them when they were getting full. Fun facts hahahaha a honey pot might have been a bed pan under your bed. 😜

[@Strooisuiker]

Hi guys! I am a new subscriber (never mind my profile name and pic: my ten year old has nicked it), and I have been binging your channel these last days, while renovating my daughter's room. Nice company :P I have gotten to the end of September and am looking forward to seeing/hearing the rest of your journey so far! Fascinating to see how hard you work day after day.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Well good evening new subscriber "That_kpop_swiftie" hahaha Love it. Thank you very much for binging our videos, sorry for the bad quality at the start and the bad sound for quite a while. We have better equipment now :-) September - you are really getting there then, only a few to go. I will warn you we did one a day for 32 days, so maybe a bit more than a few. Fascinating is one word for us working each day hahaha. Thank you again. See you Wednesday :-)

[@lisabottorff873]

I think that may be a horse leech that lives in ponds and streams and will go aground as long as it is very damp soil. Otherwise slugs do not live in dirt.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

With a Google after reading comments it seems to be a flat worm. Possibly an invasive creature. We will have a good read for the best course of action. Thanks for watching and commenting :-)

[@sharonheron7559]

I think you found a New Zealand Flatworm. It was yucky! You two are like Garden Detectives as you dig. You have enough soil there for 50 raised beds so you may need a Plan B. Excited to see progress.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We think you are right, we didn't know what it was but so many comments saying what people thought it was and it does seem to be one of those. Horrible long thing. With a Google after reading comments it seems to be a flat worm. Possibly an invasive creature. We will have a good read for the best course of action. Garden detectives, we like that haha. This is why it will take us so long, each dig is a dig and a look. You could be right with needing a plan B, we think we have a B, C & D hahaha. Thank you as always Sharon for being part of our adventure :-)

[@LewisC1944]

Never a dull video, more exciting finds. Glad you will be a no digger zone would be easier for you but could ruin what is yet to be unearthed. XX

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Oh yes it would have been soo much easier with a digger but glad we didn’t now we’ve found what we have. We would have felt terrible pulling out all the stones before realising what it was. Xxx

[@kathybauer9262]

Move the earth into piles for your raised garden then you can use the stone paths between. Work smarter, not harder. Best wishes.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We have done just that, it’s a bit of a work in progress at the moment, as all we have is some mounds of soil, but they will become raised beds when we get a chance. Stones in between the beds lovely too. Thank you ☺️

[@carolinerobinson8442]

Loving Lucas hair 💕💕💕

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It looks great doesn’t it? He is very chuffed you said that Caroline! Thank you ❤️❤️

[@hayatwy]

That's an exciting find 🙂

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Very much so. Early days and a hard dig but really worth it. Lots to dig but really hope there is much more under there. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@kaye-q1k]

My goodness what a nice gift. Your reall uncovering a puzzel

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It really is Kathleen. Finding the gully in the large outbuilding was a surprise but to find a second one is brilliant. Uncovering will be slow process but we will get there. Thank you for joining us and commenting again :-)

[@anntennyson2493]

I think ye should get in a mini digger,that very hard work,there is just too much soil,maybe a farmer will take the soil away on a trailer.♥️

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We decided to not get a digger for that part because we didn’t want to disturb what was beneath the soil and the land is so wet we didn’t think a digger could get on it anyway but we won’t rule a digger out for the other side as we can’t dig all of that out and also we have a few other bits that might benefit from getting a digger for a day or so.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

You might could try a tiller. You can rent them here, maybe you can there too, or borrow one from a neighbor. Farmers and gardeners tend to have them for small areas. Set the blades for shallow work above the stone floor and loosen the ground before you shovel it out. Also a pointed shovel should work better for that kind of digging. The square shovel is best for shoveling loose material. I’ll bet it’s really cool when you finally reveal the whole thing.🤗❤️🐝

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you Deborah. A couple of people have said about a rotovater / tiller. We think though we may be through the hard digging with all of the big stones. The section on video went nicely and we seem to have a plan on how to go forward with it, so hopefully we may be able to do without a machine. With the pointed shovel, as soon as you hit a rock it is game over and that can be two inches below the top. The mattock and whatever else works is then used haha. Thank you so much for watching and commenting :-)

[@colettelavery7452]

Ben and Dawn some digging to discover a nice cobbled area. Those are gullys for letting out the fluids from the cow's as they were being milked.I remember seeing the farmer after milking was done once a week clearing out the manure and throwing a few buckets of water on the floor and sweeping the water through the vents into the gullys. The sludge usually flowed into a stream. It is a bit of useless information Take care and God Bless you both xx

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Useless information is sometimes the best information Colette, never hold back from us with what you think is useless hahaha. We think it had pigs and hens in it, but in the grand scheme of things it was recently, the 60s (ish). Sadly we may never know it's original purpose was maybe 200 years ago. The gully would make perfect sense to us. Once the smaller part of this outbuilding is dug out, we can move some bits and "uncover" the missing flagstone again to see if that does go outside. I know what I mean hahaha. Thank you as always Colette :-)

[@janlesinski4719]

That mattock is the tool for the job or a mini digger

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Jan, thanks for watching and commenting. The mattock is great for pulling out the huge stones and ripping through the roots. Hopefully the big big stones have finished now, so digging "should" be easier. It is the uncovering which takes the time as we don't want to damage anything original. Thank you again :-)

[@debbiesmith1626]

Exciting stuff 🎉🎉

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you Debbie. Exciting times haha. Thank you for watching and commenting tonight :-)

[@justgoodness333littlehomes5]

Ooooo. I just tuned in to the video.... I'm waiting with baited breath.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hahaha< we hope you weren't dissapointed. Thank you as always for joining us :-)

[@richardbrocksmith2314]

Maybe you should wait for a few months for the yard to dry out so you can get heavy equipment in for relocating the soil. Then you can spend your time on other priorities in the meantime. Food for thought...

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi Richard, this land doesn't really dry out. The puddle in the tractor divot has been there since August and rarely is it empty from water. We are going to need to sort drainage before that could happen. If we don't carry on with this now we will just have mud to walk through to get to the land until it is done. We have lots and lots to do, some waiting on a change in the weather so lime work can be done, other stuff will need windows and doors open to help get rid of dust. We don't have the grant so we have no time restraints to get the house done. It is lovely to be able to pick and choose and wait for the weather to change as needed. Thanks for watching and commenting :)

[@turtleslaw]

Another crazy thought - I grew up on a cow farm. Those "channels"...I'm wondering if that outbuilding was used for butchering. If those holes go through the base of the outbuilding to the inside... I'm betting that's what it is. To get the "runoff" outside for easier cleaning.

[@rmd3677]

Try choosing a spot for a raised bed it will allow have salads in the early summer or even herbs in the garden.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hi R MD We have gone with over by the stone wall, this will get full sun nearly all day and really is the only place we can use at the moment. The bottom of the land will be animals and want to feed them "their food" not ours lol. Thank you very much for commenting :-)

[@anniedavis4569]

Looks like an eel? The stones will look great excited for ye both

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good evening Annie As you may have read in the comments, it turns out it is an invasive flat worm, ugly little sod! We are hoping the area will look nice. Bit by bit we will get there. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@rdcork1]

Great vid, defo look like drainage path those stone be great to do something cool with them like fill em in with some different colour stones or something. If you do go full height corrugated beds fill the bottom with trees and branches! Otherwise cut the sheets in half or thirds to double or treble your beds while using the same soil! Super congrats on the 5k. You've cracked the matrix 😁 PS. Get a mini digger 🤣🤣🤣

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Nice tip with the corrugated sheets Rob, we will have a play with sizes. Using as much soil as possible to fill them is our goal. Today is the day (well, tomorrow) you will see my dreadful workmanship, until now I have kept it quite hidden lol. Dawn said to me about different colour stones which would stand out a bit. Hopefully once finished we will be able to see it all clearly and see what we can do. We are not sure how long the gully is. The Matrix being cracked, we will see but as you can imagine we are completely over the moon and very shocked with how the numbers have shot up so quickly so thank you very much indeed. A mini digger has been ordered and looks like this ⛏️ hahahaha. Speak soon and thanks :-)

[@The-Hillside-Garden]

The "worm" looks like a New Zealand flat worm 😟 Hopefully it's not! They eat all the earthworms ... saw what looks similar on lovely greens channel. More fantastic work and thos3 cobble stones are to die for! Great find! Well done!

[@simonworthington5162]

Agree with that Aliens in your garden

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hahaha of course! Trust us to find something like that!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hmmm I think you could be right as lots of people saying the same thing 😬😔 wish we’d dispatched it now…but we didn’t know what it was at the time. So far with all the soil we’ve dug that is the only one we’ve found, but sooo many normal earth worms. Cobbles are lovely aren’t they? Gave them a bit of jet wash today to get rid of some of the mud and they look really good. 😊

[@kenhart6330]

I do believe that the area has been a yard that was used to hold animals and has never been cleaned. That would make the soil old compost from the manure build up because it will eventually become soil. Digging it out was the only way to save the cobblestones,if you had used a machine it would have been a disaster for your house. Great job you're doing and a great looking house will be the outcome of your labours. KEEP GOING I would love to see it when you eventually finish the job.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Ooh you’re spot on, it’s definitely manure! The lower down we dug we could smell the manure! 🤣 not getting a digger was absolutely the right decision because we would have been so disappointed if we had pulled the stones out and then realised what was there. Thank you very much we hope we do the house proud!😊

[@diratlion1664]

hmm suggestion look into hugelkultur to put around your acre. It will cut down on the wind its a different raised bed. Its basically a raised bed/wall that you can grown veggies on both sides. And it would use the rain and it helps to grow some veggies all year round

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you, we will have a deeper look into it. Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@ronaldlucas5360]

Interesting

[@thecornerhouseproject]

😊

[@susanknight8961]

You both are such hard worker. I you talked about animals. Did you know goats love eating ivy. I live in the USA you can rent them here. My land was untouched like yours. Still full of English ivy from the previous owner. Last year I hired a skid steer to come and take out all the brush and dead trees and branches. I planted clover mix for the dear. Good luck with all your projects.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you!☺️ we would love to have goats but we need to get the land secured first otherwise they will escape in no time lol and we also need to build a house for them too. It’s hard going when nothing has been done to the land and Ivy is a right pain in the backside! Someone else mentioned a skid steer, I’d not head of one before. Just had a look. I think we’d still have trouble with it sinking in the mud lol.

[@irenehopkinson807]

Enjoying your unearthing the paving slabs, but wondering why you're tossing the earth forward. Realise barrowing it away will be hard work but if you keep going forward you'll be forever moving the same soil. Wondered if there was a path from the door leading to the field area that would give you easier access for the rest of the slabbed area soil removal. Noticed your reply and got to that part of your vlog sorry to jump the gun hard work paying off.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good point but keep watching, it was only a test dig :-)

[@MarylouTanner-kt8gu]

Hi, If you google dingo machines or john deer machines, they have small machines and will help scrap back the soil/rich composit. google hire places closest to you. Finger crossed. love your steady progress it is helping me finish my reno. one step at a time.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thanks we can have a look at those. Thank you very much. We aren't in a rush as such to get it all done as it will take years with the house and the land but we will get there. Keep on going with your renovation, as you say, one step at a time :-) Thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@annrae1597]

You said you'd need a lot of soil..look up heugalculture..it's a good way of not needing a lot of soil on your garden beds..you top it off when the branches eventually composts

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We have a lot of soil to find places for but we had lots of comments saying about raised beds, so we have opted to do that with some of it and also added some rotting branches in a hugelkulter sort of thing lol

[@dorygeancunningham8027]

Most cobble for roads are deep stones that can be either round or squared. As for rocks used for a courtyard or “terrace “. They can be more shallow, however, different regions a couple hundred years ago can be done quite differently from not only countries but from town to town, because of what natural stones they have in the area. Another thing that you should know is that the stones could have moved due to natural erosion (reason why the seem more scattered), they were under a lot of soil and you seem to have a high water level. I had asked you if there was a gully dug in the stone from the other outbuilding, I am so excited that you indeed found one from that building. I would give my right arm for all that soil for my raised beds, which I am currently using old cinder blocks to make. And what a wonderful friend to give you plum trees in place of the ones you lost. Our blue Berry bushes are blooming!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Good afternoon Dory :-) Thanks for the cobbles info, were just not really sure what to call them. Some are large stones, some are bits and others are "cobbles" Yes, the water table seems high at the bottom of the land, but could that be our answer to a constant, or near constant water supply? I may have to have a dig and see how it goes :-) If you look back on this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/h569dpRseJJrsKM you can see the large gully in the cow shed. That is made with lovely big stones. The soil does seem really rich so hopefully the raised beds will do well. Cinder blocks is a great idea. We have some concrete blocks but on this soile would just sink hahaha. Isn't that great with your blue berry bushes. All of our apple trees have leaves either growing or coming, and the plums are doing well. So surely now it is a race to see who has fruit first? hahahahaha Thank you so much Dory, have a lovely evening :-)

[@justgoodness333littlehomes5]

Do you have a hand cart / dolly / hand truck....( that's what they're called here in the USA. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with dirt and use the dolly to move it. It's soooo much easier on the back.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

At the moment it is more the weight of the soil as it is has done nothing but rain. Once it stops raining, hahahahahaha, the soil should be much more managable. We have a few boards down to go over the mud as in the end the barrow was just sinking. Thank you as always for the tip. We may get a little trolley in the future :-)

[@Bramblecottageuk]

You're both doing a great job! ...and I don't envy the digging you have ahead of you but looking on the bright side it looks like you have really good soil. I can imagine how excited you are about what you might ultimately reveal. Keep up the good work! Richard

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you…Aww yes, we’re very excited to see it all uncovered….not quite as excited for all the digging! Hahaha but needs must! Thanks Richard, hope things are going well for you?

[@neutonrenda2303]

I think that once you've uncovered more, it will make more sense of what you are dealing with. I think it's strange that you have gravel close to the doorway, and it looks like a pile of stone next to it. Maybe it's been lifted there and left???

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Hopefully it will mean more to us as the only thing that makes sort of sense is the gully lol. We uncovered some more today, more gravel and smaller stones but certainly will have been a hardstanding. Can you give a timestamp of the gravel / stone next to it? Thanks again :-)

[@sandraredding4399]

You guys are amazing everything has been done by hand

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thank you Sandra. Nice sense of satisfaction doing it all by hand and it costs nothing to do it that way! 🤣

[@gerritpaulusma9971]

you need a small digger to remove all that, which is also better for your back and much faster

[@thecornerhouseproject]

It would be lovely to have one but the land is just so water logged and also we need to go careful with digging so as not to shift any of the stones beneath. Also we have nowhere to dump that quantity of soil in one go and then we would have to dig and barrow it from the big pile anyway. In an ideal world we would have a digger. 😊

[@willwoodvine143]

The worm - I think it looks like a New Zealand Flatworm, which is an invasive species. Have a google, as you might have to report it.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

I think you could be right. With a Google after reading comments it seems to be a flat worm. Possibly an invasive creature. We will have a good read for the best course of action. Thanks for watching and commenting :-) Thanks Will.

[@aprilriordan8202]

That’s Definitely a flat worm , they eat the native worms so feed it to the birds

[@christinerowlands539]

Must be one of the first ever patios 😅 . It's a great find. Brilliant video 👌xxx

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Haha yes I think so! Tables and chairs might be a little wobbly on it 😂 Thank you 🤩 xxx

[@paulafinn8005]

Looking good just think u could have a lovely patio area to sit in the sun at the end of all that hard graft and raised beds looking good get some manure from ur neibour to mix with the soil and ul have veggies coming out ya ears xx

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Ooh what an absolutely lovely thought! One day it will happen! It will be lovely to not see churned up mud! 😂 ooh I can’t wait for veggies coming out of my ears! They’ll be just for me as Ben isn’t a fan of veg! 🤣 xx

[@janconway2880]

Exciting times, its gonna be a lot of work, but anything that's worth striving for, is worth exposing, there might be areas where stones or slabs are missing in the courtyard, but it doesn't look as though you don't have enough, get some expert advice or go with your own gut feelings, I love it, it'll be worth all that hard work, so far the work on the house and land is great.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Yeah it’s definitely going to be worth the work once it’s all done, it’s worth it to see such an old yard also because it will help with the drainage around that area hugely! We certainly do have a lot of stones dotted around the land so I think we won’t be short of finding some to replace any missing bits lol. Thank you very much 😘

[@DianaHughes-m4u]

greatt find ,wow ,so exciting x

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Thanks Diana. A lot of digging to go but a lot of stones ang gravel already found. Thanks for always watching :-)

[@DianaHughes-m4u]

ur welcome, so exciting seeing what u find ,i love itx@@thecornerhouseproject

[@DianaHughes-m4u]

beeen lookin for ur wednesday video ,,weather here in uk ,just so cold and its rainin at mo /again/, so washin is on heated airer lol xx

[@thecornerhouseproject]

@user-ww1yv8ue8p Hi Diana..video will be out at 6pm today. Weather pretty much the same. Beautiful sunshine and then or both at the same time! Lol x

[@DianaHughes-m4u]

i agree our weather here is awful ,and its nearly end of march , roll on summer , if we get one here lolll my birthday in april wow xx@@thecornerhouseproject

[@lmdyment]

Chateau de Montmagner found a French drain and instead the room they re using for laundry and stuff they are restoring the stone floor using extra stones and more. There was also a total covered over area with earth, etc., floor that had been used for animals.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Not sure we have watched that channel but we most likely have lol we do watch a lot of other channels but I will have a look at them. Thank you ☺️

[@bobbiebrandel3152]

looks like a nice fat angleworm or nightcrawler. Weird looking fellow! Just a thought, but you might leave 5 feet of the soil on the end and plant potatoes. I did that last year in a new spot we tried to till up in the yard, and they broke up the soil really well when we dug them up. Nice big beauties, too!

[@thecornerhouseproject]

Haha yes definitely a weird looking fellow! It looked like a thick white rubber band when I found it! At least we now know what it is and not to keep them! I do like that idea with leaving 5ft to grow, but as counter productive as it sounds, we’d like to clear it all completely to see what’s there and then maybe decide where to put some raised beds on it at a later date. I’m to curious to leave some of it covered! Gotta see it all! Haha I do love potatoes though, in any form, so we will be planting some at some point.

[@Georgina602]

I think this is a very sophisticated water management system. Not for animal waste. With the amount of rain you get, it was needed as much back then as it is today.

[@thecornerhouseproject]

We think you’re right with the water system as it is draining away very well when it rains…runs off to the ditch a treat. It should help that part of the land a lot.