{"id":24595,"date":"2023-06-25T09:02:59","date_gmt":"2023-06-25T13:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24595"},"modified":"2023-07-18T16:08:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T20:08:48","slug":"episode-838-there-are-risks-involved-in-managing-a-country-estate-as-kevin-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=24595","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 838 THERE ARE RISKS INVOLVED IN MANAGING A COUNTRY ESTATE …as Kevin discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NOTE:  Before I get to the horse stories I think some credit is due to Kevin<\/div>\n
for getting the wayward jungle of the formal gardens under control.  It was not easy. It<\/div>\n
also could be darn dangerous.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n

EPISODE  838    THERE ARE RISKS INVOLVED IN MANAGING A COUNTRY ESTATE …as Kevin discovered<\/p>\n


<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
June 25, 2023<\/div>\n

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What is strange about these pictures above?  Right guess!  They need a hair cut.<\/div>\n

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English country estates had many employees \u2026.they were needed to keep the <\/div>\n
estate pristine \u2026 Just to keep the ornamental trees and hedges and formal grardens<\/div>\n
neat and tidy required a bunch of gardeners.   Our grandfather, Edward Freeman, was head<\/div>\n
gardener at the Eywood Estate near Kington, Herefordshire way back in 1900.  He<\/div>\n
had a staff of 10 \u2018under gardeners\u2019.<\/div>\n

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Kevin Skeoch does not have that luxury so has undertaken to keep the Shenley Estate<\/div>\n
under control with a staff of one.  One person.   There are risks involved<\/div>\n
just pruning there ornamental shrubs.  So Kevin Skeoch is shaping the <\/div>\n
Shenley Estate.  Rectory Lane, Hertfordshire more than a century later.<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen we moved here the shrubs had become a forest and the grass was a hay field\u2026.<\/div>\n
took a lot of work bringing the estate back to life\u2026and I am not finished yet.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat comes next?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cSee those tall ornamental cedars over there?\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou have made them look beautifull except for the tops.<\/div>\n
Tops need a haircut.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cSo I have borrowed this scaffolding from the carpenters.  On wheels.  help me<\/div>\n
push the tower over to the cedars.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cJoking!   Way too dangerous\u2026.you could killl yourself.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cPush!  Call Morgan out to help.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cDad, this is stupid.  You cannot climb the scaffold\u2026it will be top-heavy\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow else can I clip the rest of the two trees.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cLeave them alone\u2026.they look like immense pineapples now\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo.  Push\u2026.Push\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cLook at the ladder\u2026impossible to get to the top platform and <\/div>\n
then reach out with the clippers.\u201d<\/div>\n

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We argued and cursed.  Kevin responded in kind.  ‘Stupid is as stupid does\u2019 was a line<\/div>\n
from a Tom Hanks movie that seemed to fit.   Kevin began to climb and then realized<\/div>\n
the ladder went to the sky and not to the upper platform.  Reluctantly he climbed down<\/div>\n
and made us a few drinks instead.  He never admitted verbally that Morgan, Marjorie and<\/div>\n
I were correct.<\/div>\n

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Then he got another wild idea.   The Horse Trailer\u2026flat roof he could stand on.<\/div>\n

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\u201cHelp me pus the horse trailer into position\u2026I can prune from the roof.\u201d<\/div>\n

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We did not move.  Kevin gave up.  His life was saved.<\/div>\n

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Later we had lunch.   Kevin still asked about the cedars that needed a hair cut.  \u201cThe trailer is a good idea.\u201d Meanwhile I  spent some time<\/div>\n
figuring Kevin\u2019s I.Q.   Did he get his brains from his mother or me?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOTE:  Before I get to the horse stories I think some credit is due to Kevin for getting the wayward jungle of the formal gardens under control.  It was not easy. It also could be darn dangerous. EPISODE  838    THERE ARE RISKS INVOLVED IN MANAGING A COUNTRY ESTATE …as Kevin discovered alan skeoch June […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}