Tiles and pears

The Uvedale St Germain pear is supposed to produce extra-large fruit that keep well and must be cooked. Sadly, despite flowering well this year, and setting quite a few fruits, only one made it to anything like maturity, and I realised that its branch had broken so picked it as it wasn’t going to get any better. This is our first “warden” pear!

One lone warden pear
Not as large as expected, presumably because the branch was broken
Ignore the apple pieces, they’re from the Bramley in the main garden. The pear, halved. It was tasty.
Late-set fruit on the Uvedale St Germain pear

After losing most of its fruit early in the season, the Uvedale St Germain pear surprised me by flowering again, I think it was in June or something ridiculous. I assumed that there would be no pollination partners but amazingly, several fruits have set! They are much smaller than the spring fruits. I am leaving them to see if they develop into anything edible.

Al spent the week laying tiles, nailing them to the battens and then cementing the edges. Yes, this is not how the Anglo-Saxons did it, but we are working to modern building regs and I think the overall effect is good enough. It should be waterproof, which is honestly our main priority!

Metal clips, a modern requirement to help prevent the tiles from lifting up in the wind. Al really REALLY does not want to have to redo this job!

Membrane

The second guard room has had its floor laid, and Al has been hard at work laying breathable membrane over the roof boards.

The two little windows on the south side are constructed in a classic Anglo-Saxon style – arches made from straight pieces.
After much deliberation, these red clay tiles were chosen. The pitch of the roof is shallow as required by permitted development (to fit eaves height and other restrictions), and these tiles are both low in profile and rated to be waterproof at this pitch.
Battens and counter-battens