Cae Non

View of part of the island... Dogs enjoying the water - not yet to full capacity

Driving down to the field one morning we went past a cottage with a large garden, in which I fleetingly espied a pond with a tiny island in the middle of it. Now I have always had a dream to own my very own island one day, and by now we knew that if we dug a hole at Cae Non it would soon fill up with water. Perhaps neil would dig me a big broad hole before he removed the digger?

Neil was as enthusiastic as I with the idea and shortly afterwards he asked me to mark out where I would like my island to be, and not to restrict myself too severely to size; after all, I have got five acres to play with!

Beginning the channel round the island... Water already gathering

I paced about the field for a while with an armful of 6′ garden canes; made my decision and began marking out where I would like the edges of the island to be. Then Neil brought in the digger and began to scrape off the top flora. Once we were satisfied with the shape, he dug deeper. Over several afternoons of work he made a channel 6′ – 8′ wide and 2′ – 4′ deep. Because of the way the land ever so gently slopes, he had to put in two clay barriers to prevent the water from the top end running over the banks at the lower end and flooding everything.

Part of channel around island; now filled with water, clay dam holding higher water in distance

We now have access by stepping stones, one large boulder that Neil found while digging and didn’t want to try and remove, and a couple of others dislodged in the process and repositioned as required.

The Island… Ynys Non… is roughly tear-shaped and large enough for a group to gather there, or for a couple of small tents to be put up and someone camp there. There are four low bushy willow trees growing on it but I would also like to plant at least one apple tree there, which would become a very magical apple, and the whole island will be my own little Isle of Avalon! (At Cae Non, dreams really can, and do, come true!)

It soon became very obvious that we would need some kind of shelter to protect us from the weather…. hot, cold, windy or wet…. somewhere we could make a hot drink, heat up food and eat in relative comfort. All sorts of ideas flitted through my mind, from camouflaged metal containers to luxurious yurts! But I finally settled on a shed with a long window (with a shutter) and a stable half door. It is just 12′ x 10′ but perfectly adequate for the purpose. It is our “Hafod”. In Wales in years gone by, this was a little temporary dwelling up on the high summer pastures where the shepherd would live with his sheep, or even the whole family would reside there in cramped and basic conditions while they did seasonal work on the land.

Once I had made up my mind I lost no time. I visited Gwynedd Garden Buildings and chose what I wanted and it was delivered a fortnight later. In the meantime, we had to clear a site for it to stand on. After much deliberation, I chose a place up at the far western end of the field near to the stream, as this is our source of drinking water. It is also relatively sheltered and commands a good view of most of the land.

Again, Neil came to my rescue and we tackled the site together, he first levelling it with his mini digger, and then both of us working on laying the breeze blocks and eight 3 metre beams (each measuring 4”x4”) which constitute the foundations.

Sharp intake of breath...

All this sounds straight forward enough, until you consider that everything has to be carried several hundred yards by hand over very uneven and rough terrain! Just assembling all the supplies was a mammoth task in itself! And the life of a workman’s mate, or “go-fer” is not an easy one either. Together Neil and I measured, placed, remeasured, adjusted and readjusted, and measured again; bending and stretching, lifting .

A queer kind of loom - In reality, beams and blocks for foundation

Carrying digging out and replacing. This strenuous activity went on for four hours until the base was completed to Neil’s exacting standards. Who needs a session down at the gym?

The day arrived when the shed was due to be delivered. It was supposed to come at 1.pm. But the two delivery men obviously couldn’t find the place, (they had tried asking me for a post code!). They eventually arrived, nearly 11/2 hours late, and then were quite stunned at the distance that they were going to have to carry the panels, even though I had most firmly warned them.

Beginning to take shape!

We were all there to help them, Holger, Dafydd, Neil and I, and we eventually got everything transported to the right spot. After that, the building went up and was complete in a matter of a couple of hours, and at the end of the afternoon we all enjoyed the novel experience of sitting down inside to eat our tea!

Facilities might be basic in the Hafod, but do not need to be uncomfortable. I had been busy on the internet and tracked down the little wood burning stove that I wanted for it, both as a room heater and water heater.

A comforting sight!

I had also sourced a gravity water filter to ensure we have a supply of clean drinking water. And, looking ahead to the summer, I had found and purchased a metal tripod and cooking pots to hang above a camp fire outside the Hafod.

Smiling sweetly, I extracted the promise from Holger to build me some customised furniture for the inside of the Hafod… a trestle table and benches and a dresser and some storage lockers. But before any of that could be started, we decided to insulate the building with cladding and plywood panelling. Again, this sounds simple, but I have begun to notice that when I decide to do anything, it takes four, if not eight, times longer than I had originally envisaged! But this is all part of the gift of Cae Non, it teaches patience, perseverence and appreciation, and develops an acute sense of humour!

All I could… and can… see when I look at the Hafod in it’s various stages of completion are all the wonderful gatherings and meals, discussions and friendships that it will see within it’s little walls, and I am inspired…. and enchanted!

On one of the first trips down to the field, Dafydd cleared a best interracial dating sites site for the loo tent and as he was exploring, he discovered the most beautiful willow tree on the top northern boundary. It's branches grow down to the ground but beneath them is a large, shady, domed space. As most of the trees on the field are quite small, this was our only shade and acutely necessary during the days of blistering sunshine. So here we set up our camp, with stools and chairs and a little camping stove to brew tea, and a thick blanket for our two young Labrador pups to sleep on. This graceful tree has been such a blessing to us, but now that we have other shelter, I plan to designate this spot as a “quiet place” where people can go to sit and dream… the rustling of the leaves and the dappling of the sunlight make it a magical secretive bower!

Greetings from the deepest depths...

At the same time as working on the hard standing, Neil purchased a “topper” to use behind his little tractor, and we cut a path through the dense herbage all around the land.

To show him exactly where I wanted the path to go, I literally walked in front of the tractor and led it in curves and bends (no straight lines to be found on thisland!) The undergrowth was so tall in places that I wondered if I fell if Neil would notice that I had disappeared and drive right over the top of me! (That was a particularly scorching hot day and Neil learnt a lesson in keeping one’s head covered in such circumstances…. he suffered heat stroke on the way home and found a patch of cool shady pavement by the side of the road the best place to lie down, much to the amazement of a little boy who was walking home!)

Dafydd lends a hand

That day we also cut some spaces for a ritual site and the area where I intend to plant the labyrinth.

We also located the stream…. until then only heard through the banks of wild flowers growing about it. As Neil carefully backed the topper ever closer to the steep little banks and the flowing water, I had horrible visions of the “topper” and the back end of the tractor disappearing into the little gully!

Gillian... there's a first time for everything!!!

Excavation in progress

We soon became aware that the narrowness of the lane was going to cause us some problems. We needed to have loads of stone delivered to create the hard standing, but the wagons couldn’t turn off the lane and onto our land through the 12′ gateway. Reluctantly, I agreed to loose twelve feet of hedgerow so that we could double the width of access, which worked well. Now with a double gate and 24′ of access, larger vehicles have no problem turning off the lane.

We had already established that there is practically no soil depth on the land but a great deal of fine clay, which means that water does not drain away but sits on the surface until it evaporates.

Consequently, all the root-impregnated top strata of soily clay had to be dug out to a depth of about 2′; huge tough ground-sheets laid down and then a couple of channels put in and covered in larger stones to facilitate some drainage away to the side. After that it was a case of getting a load of stone from the quarry, (brought to us by Idris who has been so helpful and accommodating) and spreading it out across the sheets before the next load arrived. If it hadn’t been for one of my oldest friends, Neil, and his marvellous little mini-digger, I cannot imagine what we would have done! Even so, it took Neil many days of work to prepare the site and then spread the stone. Five wagon loads and eighty tons of stone later, we now have a firm dry space large enough to park five vehicles on.

A solid footing

The overgrown gateway

The day we proudly and ceremoniously cut the lock from the gate was a defining moment for me. The larger machinery had yet to arrive, so Dafydd went to work with a brushwood strimmer to clear some space inside the gate so that it could be fully opened. Meanwhile, Holger and I were employed cutting back the gorse which had completely grown over one end of the gate.

Access gained at last...

Later, Dafydd also cleared a meeting space further up the field. This was the first of manyhot sunny days. Until the autumn rains arrived in October, I began to think that the weather was never anything but warm and sunny… it certainly always smiled on us when we arrived to do some work!

WHAT WE HAVE DONE… SO FAR

The relationship between Cae Non and the humans who work upon it is definitely one of co-operation,teamwork and mutual respect. Even before the land became ours, it was speaking to me and suggesting ideas of what we might like to help it bring into being.

It instantly became obvious that there were two most pressing needs; to actually get the locked gate open so that we would no longer need to keep precariously climbing over it, and to build some hard standing just within the gateway so that we could actually drive onto the land and park off the road… the little lane that runs past it being very narrow.