Make a wish

While we were in Italy Mr FF started to landscape the approach to the back door of our house.  Originally there was a very steep drive from the road to a garage but it was practically impossible to access so a while back we took off the heavy old garage door and replaced it with a pass door, window and some new block work, very smart. Over the years the old drive had broken down and the parking area was rough and uneven, in fact one group of paying guests mentioned that they had never managed to get more than three of their hire car wheels on the ground at the same time.

So the plan is to have a flat parking area off the road, that will eventually be paved, a flight of steps down to another flat area at the back door and retaining walls to create interesting places where I can display pots of plants.

Mr FF made good progress though we will have to finish off when we go back to Italy in spring.

However, just off the road and on our drive was a manhole cover placed at a steep angle, this has to remain as it gives access to power cables so Mr FF gave some thought to the problem. Eventually he made a design decision to raise the level of the cover and build up a wall round the manhole to match the garden wall which would also help prevent water from the road running down our steps.   I wasn't too keen on this idea, even less so as it started to develop until eventually I realised he was in fact building a wishing well or pozzo dei desideri as we say in Lazio.

I suggested he makes a little wooden roof complete with a bucket on a rope and winding handle, that didn't go down too well (pun intended).  Wonder how he feels about a few plastic gnomes, perhaps with fishing rods.