It's that lamb time of the year.

I visited the Turnditch Orchard yesterday to find lambs grazing on our grass and fruit trees. I don't mind them eating grass, but their munching the lower branches of the fruit trees causes a lot of long lasting damage. At least five trees and a section of new hedge have suffered damage by the lambs. The lambs come from the adjoining field. They are now big enough to graze away from their mums, but small enough to be able to get through any gaps. Last year we had no invasions having fixed all the fences.

Sheep damaged apple tree.

This year the lambs gained access through the field gate. It is a metal gate designed for cattle, but not small livestock. It has equal sized gaps across the gate and lambs easily wriggle through the gaps. A sheep gate has narrower gaps toward the base. Our own gate at the roadside is a sheep gate, otherwise those lambs might have been found wandering on the Ashbourne Road (A517). Our neighbour farmer had recognised this some years ago and had wired an old plank at the base of the gate to stop lambs wriggling through the gaps. The people using the public footpath like having a large gap at the foot of the gate to allow their dogs to pass through the gate. At some point, the plank wired to the gate has "disappeared", thus allowing the lambs to gain access to the orchard.  We had provided a "dog gate" which allowed access for dogs when the plank had been in place, but it requires 10 seconds of extra effort.

Dog gate installed between the lamb field and the orchard.

Dog gate, today, showing no sign of use

So now I've had to wire a section of stock fence to the gate to stop all animals from wriggling through the gate. The dog gate remains available, though I know the farmer isn't too keen on having dogs in a field where there are lambs. Strictly speaking, we do not have to provide access for dogs on a public footpath, just humans have a right of way on foot, but so long as no damage arises it is not a problem for us. The stiles remain for the walkers.

Gate, wired with stock fence

Planning for the orchard gate

The main field of the Turnditch Orchard has a gap in the hedge where a gate used to be located. We have a heavy (more than 50 kilograms) 4 metre steel gate on site which we believe used to be used as the gate for the field. At some point in the past the old gate posts have been removed. We'll need to install some new gate posts so that we can swing the old metal gate.

The old gateway, just after hedges re-laid.

We think the old gate posts were taken out so larger vehicles could gain access to the field to enable dumping of building/construction waste. With the fruit trees in place, we don't want any large vehicles on the orchard, so putting the gate back suits our purposes just fine. The gate will discourage unwanted guests from straying off the public footpath into the orchard field.

The soil where we'll put the gateposts is quite soft and any gatepost footed in a few centimetres layer of postcrete will soon sag under the weight of the gate. We've determined the need to build a concrete beam to provide a secure support for the hinge post. The beam will need embedded steel rebar and approximately 0.7 cubic metres of concrete. We'll mix the concrete on site as it is too far from the road to use a readimix concrete lorry without incurring charges for lorry rental or additional labourers to run around with wheel barrows. The steel work for the re-bar will be designed and ordered from Twiggs in Matlock during this week. A galvanised steel gatepost will be purchased from Lester Lowe.

The beam will be buried out of sight underground when the work is complete. We've used this technique of a concrete beam before  for the roadside gate. In that case we were concerned the gate post and fence posts could cause damage to the top of the river bank. 

Where there's gaps between the hedge and the gate posts we'll build a short section of fence to fill the gap. Later we'll plant hedge plants to grow against the fence to allow its replacement in a few years time.

Installing a gate post

We had a busy day installing one of the two gate posts for the new field gates at the roadside near the river bridge.

New gate post in place

This is the new left hand side gate post concreted in place behind the old stone gate post. The stone post has a substantial tilt and is not usable for a gate. The tilt was probably caused when the river bank collapsed some years ago. Whoever restored the bridge did not repair the post at the same time. You can see the stone stile of the public footpath standing next to the stone gatepost. 

The new metal gate post is fixed using postcrete in a socket in a concrete beam buried under the soil. We constructed the beam using steel reinforced concrete in December 2015. It was cast in place and also supports the wooden fence post shown to the left of the picture. The River Ecclebourne is just out of the picture to the left. We chose to construct a concrete beam to prevent any further damage or risk of collapse to the river bank. Many hour's work and approximately £150 (GBP) went into the construction of the beam.

The metal post is heavy galvanised steel tube with a cross section of 200 mm square (4 inches). The lower hinge lug is set approximately 20 cm  higher than if it was supporting a gate in a level field. The earth slopes down in two different directions at this gateway. We managed to set the post perfectly square and upright with a handy right angle magnetic post spirit level tool. The tool is placed against one corner of the post and it stays in place while you manoeuvre the post. We used a professional grade of Postcrete which was easy to pour around the post into the socket in the concrete beam. Once we'd triple checked the measurements and levels the post was firmly fixed in place within 15 minutes. We'll now leave it for a couple of days for the Postcrete to fully cure before attempting to hang a gate from it.

We've left sufficient space for people to be able to use the old stone stile for the footpath if they so wish, but we'll also make arrangements to allow pedestrians and their pets, buggies to be able to use the gate to access the footpath. 

I'd constructed a builder's water level to allow us to make sure both gate posts will be set at the right height on either side of the gateway.

Water level gauge

The picture above shows one end of the water level gauge at the old right hand gate post. Use of this tool will help to ensure the right hand steel post is exactly level with the left hand post which we've just installed. This type of level gauge tool is hundreds of years old.

We took the time to dig the hole for the right hand gate post, but need to double check the width measurements of both gates and their hinges before we position and install the gate post. The hole is over a metre deep and approximately 40 cm in diameter. We had to chop through buried stones and tree roots to complete the hole.

Right hand post hole

Return from holiday - unpleasant surprise

We returned from a short holiday to discover the chain locking the gate of the Turnditch Orchard had been cut again. Once again bolt croppers had been used to cut out a section of the chain locking the gate. Whoever did this had tried to hide their handiwork, but in effect the road gate had been left unlocked. We'd left the old chain in place, pending replacement of the road gate. The chain is relatively thin galvanised mild steel and fairly feeble from a security viewpoint.. We'd inherited that chain from the previous owners. We've now replaced the gate chain with a much stronger, thicker, hardened steel chain.  This an initial temporary measure until the new gates are installed.

This will be of concerned to the angling club who use our gate as their "daisy chain" lock has gone missing. It will doubtless worry the neighbouring farmer who clearly been doing some work with his sheep in the adjoining field over the past couple of days. Our gate is the only real locked barrier between the road and his herd of sheep. If gates were left open the sheep might stray and cause damage or be injured/lost/stolen.

As before the criminal activities will be reported to the police.

Sam builds a ladder.

One of the volunteers working with basic tools in the orchard site, built a ladder from pieces of fencing timber. It is now installed on the river bank to allow safe access to the River Ecclesbourne. The ladder, which is about 8ft (2.4M) tall, is intended to help anyone working in the river to gain safe access.

Sam adds the final bolts to attach the rungs.

The ladder stands on the river bed and is firmly attached to a riverside tree stump to prevent it from being washed away in the winter storms. The timber is pre-treated to resist rotting. Nearby a recently installed gate allows secure access  to the ladder through the riverside fence. The ladder is robust, needing two people to carry it.

Sam is the first person to test the ladder he built.

We've also installed a dog gate in the field gate to the adjoining fields. The simple wooden latch is designed to allow operation from both sides of the gate. Let's hope people remember to close it and latch it properly after letting their dog through.

Turnditch Orchard dog gate

More crime in Turnditch Orchard

At the weekend when I visited the orchard to pick up some sawdust left over from the tree felling work I noticed that someone had cut the main gate chain. They'd used bolt cutters to cut through the chain, I found the evidence in the cut links on the ground. There are clear cut marks on the link. Whoever did this tried to hide the effects of their criminal damage by attempting to knot the chain around the gate frame.

A link cut from the gate chain on Turnditch Orchard

I don't know the motive behind this latest attack, but it is getting damned annoying. Those people/organisations who are allowed vehicle access have been given a key, at our expense, to the gate padlock. We'd allowed enough looseness in the chain to allow dog walkers access for their dogs to the public footpath. In common law we only are required to allow access to humans along the foot path and the old stile remains open. A contact phone number is posted on the gate to allow people to call us if they need access.

It is time for us to get a bit tougher on the security of the site. Few people know I used to help design physical security for premises located in Africa and the Middle East. Soon people will be finding access security to the orchard much more difficult to compromise.

Edit: 8th June 2016: I spoke too soon. We've had another attack before I had chance to introduce the new security measures.

Riverside gate

As part of the safety work on the Turnditch Orchard project, we have installed a metre high wire stock fence along the edge of the river bank where the public footpath runs. Normally the river level is low and safe, but after heavy rain the river quickly turns to spate. The swollen waters are fast flowing and dangerous.

We've always intended to allow access to the river, but didn't have a the time or funds to install a gateway through the fence. We did however design the fence so a small gate could be easily installed.  Last weekend we didn't work on the orchard, but instead used the time to set to work in our man cave to build a new gate. It has been built from timber left over from an earlier project. The timber is larch and has been pressure treated (tannalised) with chemicals to resist fungal and insect attack.

We cut mortice and tenon joints for the frame of the gate and added bracing, so it is quite light but strong. Its dimensions are 90 x 60 cm. We've given the finished unit a couple of coats of ranch paint to improve the water proofing and weather resistance. No screws were used in its construction (except for the hinges), as the mortice/tenon joints are quite accurate.  The cost of the gate, excluding the hinges, was about £4. When we looked around at suppliers the minimum price was £45 for a ready made unit.

Riverside gate on the Ecclesbourne

We'll be installing the gate today, the next stage will be to build some steps down the steep bank to the river adjacent to the gate. There's no complicated gate latch, just a loop of fencing wire to hold it closed.

Why are things never simple in the orchard?

Finally on Thursday we were able to pour concrete to form a beam to support the new gate post and fence posts on the top of the river bank at the Turnditch orchard. The beam is about two metres long and approximately sixty cm square in profile. It took roughly 2/3 of a cubic metre, about 1.5 tonnes, of ST4 grade concrete with added polyester fibre to reduce cracking to complete the beam.  The actual pour process only took about 30 minutes from the time the mixer lorry arrived. We now have to leave the beam for a couple of weeks to harden somewhat before setting up the posts. 

Concrete beam supporting gate post

In the picture you can see the fence post cast  in place. It looks a bit tilted, but that is just caused by the camera angle. According to the  builder's level it is well squared and vertical. At the base of the post you can make out a couple of layers of plastic bubble wrap. This was added to increase the diameter of the post socket hole in the concrete. We'll lift the post, remove the bubble wrap, and then reinstall the post with dry sand packing. This will allow subsequent removal of the post for maintenance without damage to the concrete beam. 

You can also see a dummy post embedded in the concrete. This also has bubble wrap and acts as a form for the socket hole in the concrete for the gate post. When we are ready to install a gate post we'll pull out the dummy post leaving a clean hole for the new post. 

There is a matrix of steel reinforcing bars hidden and embedded in the concrete to strengthen the beam. The steel is carefully designed to resist the potential stresses from the posts. During the next few days we'll cover up the concrete beam with aggregate/soil from the original hole so people will be unaware of the minor civil engineering buried beneath. As mentioned in an earlier post this work will help to prevent river bank collapse so close to the road bridge. 
It was a lot of work, when all we were expecting was to drive a post in for a short fence on the river side bank.

Fixing the main gate

One of the first things I noticed when we acquired the site for the Turnditch Orchard is that the main gate at the roadside is broken. The old sandstone hinge post is fractured and the gate no longer swings from it. The latch post, again old sandstone, has a substantial lean from the vertical. The latch post was probably displaced when the river bank collapsed near the bridge and was rebuilt by the local authority. The iron tube gate itself is heavily rusted and the bottom bar corroded through. Steel chains attached to an elm tree stump currently provide hinges for the gate.

We've decided the best way of repairing the gate is to install new posts behind the the old original posts. This approach will preserve the historical stone posts, but it does present some problems. The latch post is at the top of a relatively unstable river bank and also close to the historic stile "gate" for the public footpath. If we are careful in positioning the new post we can avoid blocking the footpath stile, as required by law. However the new gate would effectively block the route to dogs accompanying people using the footpath as we need to be able to lock the new main gate.

We also need to be sure the installation of a post does not create long term potential for damaging the riverbank close to a public road bridge. It is inevitable that walkers will swing on the new gate post as they pass through the stile. Some form of reinforcement will be required to prevent damage to the river bank. We are already planning a hidden steel reinforced concrete beam to support the fence post for the riverside stock fence. We'll extend that beam to provide support for the gate post on the river bank. Once the works are complete the concrete beam will be buried and unobtrusive, but it will prevent the gate post and fence post from toppling and damaging the riverbank.

We'll design the concrete reinforced beam with post sockets so that the gate and fence posts can be replaced in future without disturbing the beam.

There's no legal requirement to provide access for dogs on the public footpath at the end of the orchard by the river, but it is a popular route for local dog walkers. Currently dog owners just lift the old rotten metal gate to get their dogs through. So we are planning to introduce a dog gate which will allow passage to dogs. We've looked at various configurations because near the footpath stile space is quite cramped. There's not enough space at the top of the river bank to safely install a swinging stile gate. We can't reduce the width of the gateway, it has to be wide enough to allow the passage of farm machinery. Our current plans are to build a bespoke main gate which will have an integral dog gate built into the design. Dog owners will be able to open/close the dog gate without the need to unlock the main gate.

Some vandalism at the Turnditch Orchard

We arrived on Turnditch site this morning to find the gate lock to our land had been vandalised. One of the locks had been smashed off the chain and an eye-bolt used as a hasp had been damaged beyond repair. The public footpath remains unrestricted by us with the stile in its original condition. The local farmer who has documented right of access to the adjoining fields has been warned we've changed the locks and we've provided them with a set of keys for the new locks. 

Vandalised gate lock at Turnditch Orchard

You can see the hammer marks on the old stone gate pillar. Clearly someone has taken a hammer to the old lock and hasp to gain access to the land. We wonder why they think they have the right to do this? There were some sheep hoof marks in the access route which had not been there before so it may be that someone has been moving sheep, possibly theft/rustling  through our land.

Edit: Outcome. It was a young labourer working for the farmer. They'd had to move the sheep as a matter of urgency. He panicked and chose a "quick" fix when he didn't have the key for the padlock. Just one of those joys of ownership.