Verinda's meadow

[Greenleaves]

Good luck and pleased keep us appraised of any developments

[Verinda]

Thank you GL and everyone for all your wonderful support. I will let you know what the Irish Wildlife Trust have to say about it and keep you posted on any other developments

[WPG]

What an awful shame Verinda Your photos of the meadow were just so gorgeous...why anyone would want plain grass instead just baffles me.

I've noticed quite a few of our local parks have started leaving wild-grass areas, I wonder if he'd consider even leaving part of the meadow untouched?

I know it must be so upsetting for you Verinda - best of luck with whatever you can do.

[Bonsai Si]

*cough* find something that needs protecting from somewhere else and plant it *cough*

>.>


<.<


Report it, get it protected, profit!

Or claim you saw a Crested Newt running through the meadow.

[Verinda]

Thank you WPG, we don't have any parks here but there has been a request from the Irish bee keepers pleading with people to leave wild areas for bees, so I could tactfully point that out to him.

Haha Bonsai, well as it happens I have found some moss that I think might be a protected species, I have some here in a glass so I'll look it up. I also thought I'd tell him the orchids are protected too, there are varying types of purple orchid...one of them might be purple bog orchid...actually from now on it definitely is a bog orchid and must be protected at all costs

I haven't heard back from the Irish Wildlife society yet.

[Verinda]

Bit of an update. I have discovered, to my dismay (being a staunch environmentalist and a grieving daughter) the new neighbour plans to transform my dads pretty big four bedroom house into an absolutely enormous mansion there will be a new huge driveway with a right turn to the house and a left turn leading to a new gigantic garage which will be only slightly smaller than my house, the garage will be situated right on top of my mums beautiful organic veg garden where she worked so hard for so many years. All her beloved plants and trees will be bulldozed out.

He isn't living there yet so today I went over to view whats been going on because he's been using a chainsaw every Sunday for the past few weeks, upsetting the neighbours, its very quiet here. He's hacked down everything, chopped trees collapsed on top of my mum and dads beloved fuchsias it's like a disaster zone. Even worse there's rubbish scattered all over the place.

We went to view his plans at the planning office too late to complain unfortunately, but checking online I see they are looking for further information so perhaps he won't get it all his own way. Surely its not normal to build a garage the size of a house! What could he be going to put in it?? A horse and carriage!!!

Perhaps the relentless storms will put him off hilltop life...can only hope. And just to add due to debts dads house was sold by the bank not us so we had no say in who bought it.

[veggiechicken]

(((Big Hugs))) Verinda. It must be so distressing for you to watch this vandalism

[bramble]

Oh Verinda, thats terrible. I feel for you. Were you able to rescue any of the plants from your parents garden?

[Lumpy]

Sounds like it's a case of more money than sense - it's a shame that you couldn't take any plants before the destroyers moved in.

[Bigmallly]

I don't mean to sound harsh Verinda as I feel your pain but it looks like now is the time to let go & live with your memories..............

[Nicos]

Very frustrating I know...and can feel for you, but I do wonder know if there is anything you can do to influence their decision.
It's their property now to do with as they wish.
Very short sighted and environmentally unfriendly and ignorant in my opinion, but it seems to me they just don't understand/care , and just saw the land as a building plot to build a house of their dreams probably with hard earned money.
I think BM is right, sadly time to turn away......

[Jungle Jane]

This is so horrible that you're seeing all this happening. I don't think I could watch it all happen,it must be always on your mind? If it is,I worry that you're not happy & your parents wouldn't want that,what would they say to you about all of this? I still feel slightly attached to our old family home,when I drive past I always have a quick peek to see if anything's different-they have a black front door now,ours was wood like (looked better ). Over 20 years ago we buried our much loved Maltese cross Yorkshire terrier dog Toby,at our family home,my parents sold that house about 10 years ago but I don't know & don't even want to think about what they could be doing to the garden,its theirs now,its terrible just thinking about it,so I keep it out of my mind. You have special memories & that's what's important now.

[Nicos]

When we sold our UK home the new buyers offered to store a few things in the summerhouse until we next went over
6 months later we went to collect them and they'd had builders in...ripped apart most of what we'd done , and just done what I would say were just appalling impractical changes ( everyone to their own)

To be honest I smiled and said nice things in total disbelief but it did actually help me move on emotionally because there's no way that was my home anymore and after a short period of frustration I was able to think back to the happy memories instead.

What upset me the most was nipping up to our old allotment...hours and hours of fencing, raised beds , bushes, fruit trees , greenhouse etc all totally rearranged or ripped out ....talk about a waste of our money and time. ( but was it..we really enjoyed doing all that together!)

I just have to think back, enjoy the memories and accept life changes.
I know it's not the same at all in your case Verinda, but hopefully your frustration and upset will calm.
There may be some small changes to their plans from external pressures or common sense but who knows.
The lovely part to remember is that your parents and others had many wonderful years there- some people never achieve that in life.

Fingers crossed someone somewhere steps in xx

[Guest]

I don't know if it helps, but it has helped me in the past remind myself 'it is just.....a house, an allotment etc' it is really the people that matter not the objects.

x x x

[Verinda]

Oh Verinda, thats terrible. I feel for you. Were you able to rescue any of the plants from your parents garden?

Happily yes. I dug up all my mums cowslips and bluebells (real not Spanish) and I took lots of cuttings, blackcurrant, fuchsia, escallonia, American currant, cotoneaster, a yellow daisy shrub and a white daisy shrub and one with trails of yellow flowers all from shrubs which will be obliterated so I am delighted to have saved part of them. I also shipped over to my garden a pile of rocks which my mum had cleared from her veg borders over the years and I have made a circular herb garden with them (:



I'm going to put mint in the middle.

BM you are totally right in what you say, but its very hard, its been our family home for the past 40 years and I am right next door so there's not much escape. Its not really the house I'm bothered about, although being none materialistic its the awful ostentatious gigantic mansion they want to create that bothers me a lot and the total disregard for the land bothers me even more, but there's nothing I can do to save it. I'll just have to make up for it by making my patch even more wildlife friendly.

And thank you for your support everyone, it really means a lot xx

Ps I am hoping the planning office will enforce some changes, especially as we are on a hill, and quite visible from the road below and he is planning to cut down all the trees making his patch even more visible. My fingers are crossed something good will happen! I'll let you know.