When we first moved out of London and into our 'house in the country', we would give visitors directions 'when you reach the
cookie monsters you've arrived.
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| First there were 5 |
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| Then there were 4 |
The first thing our surveyor told us was to have the tree nearest the
house removed. We've lived here for over 30 years and the remaining '
cookie monsters'
(leylandii) have always been a part of the house's identity. But, as
the decades passed, the trees have grown wider each time we had them
'topped', taking over the garden space and intruding into the council's
grass verge. Generations of pigeons, starlings, and finches have nested
in the trees and we were reluctant to remove them.
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| Last Google maps street view |
Eventually, the old wood and heavy branches became sodden and then rotten and the time came for them all to go.
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| Awaiting the woodman who'll remove the stumps and debris |
The house looks bare, and vulnerable, and, although there is now more light in the NE-facing sitting room, I know I'm going to miss the 'green view' from the window.
