A car was collected and I drove the little car back from Woburn Sands. A forty-minute drive on a road I only drive as far as Henlow normally. Woburn Sands is almost Cambridge and surrounding areas are very pretty!

The car is quite posh (!) with (my daughter worked out) variable heated seats all round. It has a high mileage which accounts for its lower price for the specification. It’s probably been a company car. Driving to Scotland at Christmas won’t be a difficult drive!

After we got back I set to the possible culprits for our drain issues. The Phormium was chopped into a bad crop. We thought it would make it easier to pull it up, and compared to the Holly bush it was a breeze. We battled with the Holly bush/tree for a long painful session. I think the RHS advice I read was correct.

So the area relieved of the plants will be replanted with bedding style plants some of which will need to like direct sun in the early afternoon. I will check on the things I have already but the selection will not have invasive roots!

A fairly large space I’ve got to fill. Nothing has to grow roots like holly. We managed to pull up the old tree trunk that had been decapitated before we moved in. We had poured stump killer on it a year ago and with a few twists the top came off!