Monday 11th March 2019 was G-Day, the long-awaited start of our groundworks.
Our groundworks team - James and Tim - delivered their digger and dumper to site on a low loader.
In a remarkably short time, they scraped 300 mm off the surface of the old drive and the footprint of the old garage, building an earth mountain for later collection by grab lorry.
They also shifted the concrete from the old garage foundation to the end of the drive.
Another load by grab lorry headed for the crusher and future recycling.
Tim operated the digger with amazing precision, often working in a tight area and swinging buckets of earth over Sarah's flower beds without spilling much at all.
Although it did feel as if they were almost inside the house at times.
This was the muddy phase, not helped by some heavy rain.
We took shelter in the house - James and Tim seemed to be waterproof.
Next step was to excavate a 900 mm deep services trench with this blue water pipe in the bottom.
After a layer of sand, a grey BT telecoms conduit was laid, then the black conduit for the electric supply and finally the new sewer pipe on the top.
The trench was backfilled and 20-tonne loads of hard core brought in, rolled to150 mm depth using this vibrating roller.
This machine made the entire house (and us) vibrate in sympathy.
Finally 20-tonne loads of crushed granite (known in the groundworks trade as MOT Type 1) were brought in and rolled down to create a hard, resilient surface.
We now have a functional drive down to the building plot.
We will leave the surface like this until construction is complete and there is no more heavy traffic over the drive. It will then be re-rolled and dressed with gravel.
A mentally exhausting week for us but mightily impressed by the groundworkers' skill and ability to move literally hundreds of tonnes of material.
Next week - digging foundations.