The attraction and the difficulty of this plot is its steepness which in parts is nearly vertical. One suspects that the plot was hewed out from the steep bank with little regard for its original character or indeed its final characteristics. A level area has been provided, at the expense of the rest of the space, which is a bank so steep that you cannot walk up it, so full of growth that you cannot penetrate it, and the growth being so deep and established that the foot cannot find the solid ground beneath it. The bank is of clay, with a tumble of boulders, large and small held back from an inevitable avalanche towards the dwelling mainly by vegetation alone. Evidence of previous vain attempts to tame the slope remain, old concrete slabs that may have been steps now falling down or buried in ivy roots.
not at home 