Castle, Mine 4 by Paul Audcent - HTML preview

Chapter 10. A clean-up and a fresh week of sunshine at last.

By the following morning Dulcie and I stood on the stone steps in front of our entrance and bad farewell to our locals as they started off down that long driveway towards their homes. We understood that several houses had been damaged with the river water but Tom said there was no major damage so although we offered to host those families affected our offer was refused because they were all eager to return to assess the damage and dry out their lower rooms. So it was with a clear sky at last and a warm sun that the villages trudged down to their abodes. Nick agreed to transport the younger ones down to the gates where Frob was waiting to care for them and dear Maise had left her at the Lodge to bring the children to await their parents. It was quite gratifying to hear the thank you your Grace from many that left us so I presume Cook had spent the early morning together with our old cook now at the Evans, cooking a breakfast for all our guests. But that horrific storm had done some damage to the park and several large trees had blown down due no doubt to the rain soaked earth and the high wind. Much of the morning was given away to the chain sawing of tree trunks and branches, which I was assured would be dried and cut ready for Tom's fire room in winter,  after leaving out for wind and rain to rinse out the sap and then to eventually stack.

The children were eager to move the horses back to their stables but Gideon had decreed they be well and truly dried out first, that is the stables not the Shires!

Luckily enough the cottages up from the stables remained free of water damages and the gutters were cleared of wet leaves. I think our estate workers earn their salary's especially that week as the chain saws screeched, the ditches cleared and the Home farm yard cleared of the broken scrub. The children all helped stack the cut logs on end and were promised a ride on the farm cart when it was ready to haul the logs into storage in two months time or so. Thankfully the boys were able to play football on the park as it drained and dried over a few days, but first they all took part in leading the Shires back to their stable, and their food soon followed. Yes it was hard work and we sent down some timber to the village to mend broken fence lines. The Anderton boys were given the job, together with some tools plus the the Land Rover to help out those unfortunate villagers living close to the river. Nick thought this might be an ideal way to recuperate these two reprobates back into the community and I guess he got my Robroy's support in this venture, in fact I think his mother may have mentioned the fact to me. Overall the storm had bought a new closeness between the village and our family. We had further showers which washed out the sap from the lags and eventually Nick and Robin declared them ready for storage.

A weekend was suggested to do this task and somehow or other we were met by many of the village adults who came up our driveway to help us load the carts and move to the storage sheds. We attached the tractor and the Shires to their own carts and soon the logs stacked high but still damp were carried over to where our log sheds were. Once they were full we carried the rest down to the Lodge and bade all the village helpers to take what they needed, but of course we laid in a stock for Maise and her families use in the Lodge first of all.  Later I and Robroy went to inspect the Log sheds, there were three in number, and I noticed one shed had totally dried timber in it.

"I asked some of our estate guys to move all the dried timber into that one shed so we would have dry logs for Cook and the house." Robroy pointing out the dry wood shed.

Well what could I say but,

'Thank you Grandson well thought out.'