A local man agreed to cut Barry's path for me. It's the path from the red gate to the shore and I was worried about it becomeing completely overgrown. Barry made it as an anniversary gift for me one year and it's very special to me.
I discovered that he had done some hedgecutting me some years ago, and it seems he had liked my mini-meadow (I just let the grass grow) and we had discussed differential mowing and various ways of reducing maintenance costs and increasing diversity. He has since been creating meadows in some of the gardens he looks after, telling his clients they don't need to have all the grass cut all the time. In one large garden he has watched wild flowers appear and even ground nesting birds come in.
He made a great job of the path, charged me only £20 and offered to cut it throughout the summer, free of charge.
How kind is that?
It made my day.