The present owner of the garden next door to me has applied to cram in two starter homes with underground parking. The owner lives two hundred miles away and obviously this application has nothing to do with providing anyone with a home but for making a lot of money out of the increased value of the land.
Untouched fields are worth more if you can build upon them because everyone needs a home and there is millions of pounds following the increase in population in the United Kingdom. Some seventy million people with a built of area of 15%, which is a lot if you think about it though this percentage also includes all the roads. And before you think I am annoyed that houses might be built next door to me, it is actually the manner and quality of homes I am thinking about.
My home is over two hundred years old and when it was built it was built by illiterate farm labourers. One room upstairs and one room downstairs. They added their own barn in the same stone as the rest of the house. Today you could not easily build a stone house with two foot thick walls and its own Well for the poorest in society. Nor would land be given to them to build it themselves.
But it should, for cement block houses will not last as long as this one nor be as free of chemicals nor, if the plans go ahead next door, will the occupants have enough garden to grow their own vegetables. Surrounded by land but having none of your own, is truly being poor.
I absolutely agree with you. Especially that last sentence. So many of the new homes in my town, a Chicago suburb, are crammed onto the minimum lot size. There is no yard, no garden and no privacy. And most don’t seem to care. I would go crazy without my garden.
I think people accept what they can get, without perhaps realizing just how miserable it is going to make them. I know about your garden I posted links to your pictures…superb:)
I absolutely agree with you. Especially that last sentence. So many of the new homes in my town, a Chicago suburb, are crammed onto the minimum lot size. There is no yard, no garden and no privacy. And most don’t seem to care. I would go crazy without my garden.
I think people accept what they can get, without perhaps realizing just how miserable it is going to make them. I know about your garden I posted links to your pictures…superb:)
I’m expanding the garden again in the spring. I have way too much grass which, besides being boring, does nothing for the environment.
The small bed of perennials I put in this year were beautiful… and pretty much took care of themselves. The native plants did fine, the English Daisy and one of the smaller Rudbeckias along with the Asters were devoured by the bunnies. As a bonus I attracted hummingbirds for the first time and lots of goldfinches that wanted the seeds. I was ecstatic with the results, although some folks think I am just easily amused!
Ha! I just ordered four roses for our garden but mum is too ill to garden anymore. Enjoy it, it is one of the most rewarding of all things. And down with the detractors!
I’m expanding the garden again in the spring. I have way too much grass which, besides being boring, does nothing for the environment.
The small bed of perennials I put in this year were beautiful… and pretty much took care of themselves. The native plants did fine, the English Daisy and one of the smaller Rudbeckias along with the Asters were devoured by the bunnies. As a bonus I attracted hummingbirds for the first time and lots of goldfinches that wanted the seeds. I was ecstatic with the results, although some folks think I am just easily amused!
Ha! I just ordered four roses for our garden but mum is too ill to garden anymore. Enjoy it, it is one of the most rewarding of all things. And down with the detractors!