Greenhouse Restoration Part 1

When I began my first greenhouse restoration in August 1999 there was nobody to turn to. There were no restoration programs on tv. The world wide web had not come of age and even gardening web sites were few and far between. There was nothing about ‘greenhouse restoration’ on line. Yet the potential we saw in our restored greenhouses was one of the main reasons we had bought the property. We even invited representatives from UK conservation organisations to take a look at the greenhouses, to offer their suggestions. Everybody came and yet no one offered a single constructive comment.

We were very much on our own when work began cleaning out the first greenhouse, with nothing to lose and much to gain.

The first two photographs show what the greenhouse looked like when we first viewed the property.They were taken in February when the annual weeds that went through the roof had not even started to grow!

Greenhouse Restoration work began on August 28, 1999. It was a leap of faith.

The first job was to clear out all the muck and debris and stuff – just so we could see what needed to be restored!

Three of us worked like slaves from dawn until dusk before collapsing in to hot showers. There was no evening tv, we couldn’t keep our eyes open! BUT! And it’s a big ‘but’, the work was enormously satisfying, almost every day we made progress, almost every day we had something to show for our efforts!

These two photographs were taken 10 days apart. It was progress like this that both encouraged us and compelled us to drive ourselves even harder, just to see what we could do next!

OK. If you look closely the support tube needed replacing and a 1000 other things too. But we were on a roll!

On the 15, November 1999, (when this photo was taken) the job was done.

Flushed with our own success, we felt certain there were many couples around the country who were just like us…

Ordinary people who considered themselves fortunate to own a wreck in their backyard!

Who could be encouraged by our results and were themselves equally determined to roll up their sleeves and have a go. This Greenhouse Restoration section is especially for them. To help ordinary people do extraordinary things in their own backyard.

Victorian Greenhouse Restoration Part 2 click here