Fitting Sweet Chestnut Palings

 I managed to find a bit of time to fit the palings I ordered from Say It With Wood back in the winter. 

I was so impressed with them. Generally I hate buying anything I can make, especially when it's wood, but there's no way I could make these! I don't have the machinery for a start, but when I saw how well these were made, cleft and smoothed up I was so impressed. A lot of hand work goes into these palings.

Lawn Edging From Logs - part 1

I keep trying to find ways to use the timber around me. So the other day at mum and dads I pulled out some pear logs from a tree they had to fell a few years ago. 

Getting them back they were too big for what I wanted, I decided to cleave them down smaller, into quarters. 

New Rose Arch - Some Assembly Required...

For a while now I've wanted the veg garden to look a bit nicer. I've wanted to have somewhere to sit and have it as slightly more than just a productive area. 

One thing I've always wanted was a nice entrance to it, rather than a few gates made from old pallets. A few years ago, (7 in fact) I fenced mums garden with sweet chestnut and I've always loved the look of that, it blends in more as it ages. The other advantage is the wood is all coppiced locally and is sustainable. 

 When I enquired about an arch they said there was quite a wait but I could buy the timbers and make it myself instead. So I did just that. They're based not far from here so didn't take too long to get there, although we had to dig out a few logs to make the order right! 

What I got is quite a few poles of sweet chestnut, there is enough in the picture for a few fence posts I need, enough timber to build a shaving break (for splitting the chestnut down into lathes) and the wood for the rose arch. I've also got some paling on order as well for fencing around the garden and greenhouse. 

I'm really looking forward to working on this project. I think I'll get the children to help as much as possible, they should be able to strip the bark as an easy first job. 

Have you ever worked with sweet chestnut? What type of fencing would your dream garden have?