The finished garden feature. No mortar, every stone placed carefully by hand, unbeatable sustainability credentials, and guaranteed to last hundreds of years. What's not to like?
The niche is also a very unusual design. I've never seen a niche with a vertical stone backing and wanted to try to make one. It worked a treat, and our clients have something really unique.
I also love how the colours of the stone really come through after the rain.
Living in Liguria, where we have thousands of miles of stonewalls, I can assure you this is an astounding job: not a lot of people nowadays is able to make that!
@kristiedegaris that is beautiful work, the niche is lovely 👏 we had a dry (well, dry at the front, wet at the back) wall built in our garden from reclaimed stone and it makes my heart soar whenever I see it.
More people should do this: dry stone walls instantly look like they've been there for 100 years, and will last that long.
The niche is very like those found in Breton 'longères' (long houses). Ours is about 500 years old and has niches with vertical stone backing both inside and out. Inside, I understand they were originally fitted with cupboard doors to form cool-cupboards and meat-safes (the vertical stones being close to the outside walls and therefore cooler than the other more-than-half-metre-thick walls).
Our elderly neighbour, who was actually born in our house, told us that one small niche, near where there would have been a gwele-kloz (bed entirely enclosed in wooden boarding) was used for a chanber-pot!
@kristiedegaris
Are those natural stones and/or I mean they been cut like that ? I never seen so many regular shaped stones ! Also .. I don't understand .. what is its purpose ?
@kristiedegaris Aaah .. ever time I had to dig a hole, in Wales, I always said "it's incorrect to call this planet Earth, it should be called Rocks" .. As you start digging after 20 cm or so deep you'll find quartz/stones of all sort, stuff can nearly break a pickaxe ! All irregular shapes, often quite big, the kind of stuff that stops a shovel ever time you try to lift up some material. But yeah never found a regular shaped stone.
@kristiedegaris That is fabulous. Followed you! I have to use gabion cages for my stonework cos a) don't have drystone skills and b) the rock on our land is mainly unsuitable, e.g. v soft shale or knobbly other stuff that isn't flat enough.
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