They say you shouldn't count your chickens before they are hatched - how right they are!

I emailed the clients regarding setting up a meeting to review the draft pencil plan before committing it to ink and wash and mentioned the re-positioned tennis court now protruding into the agricultural land curtilage. The client (he is a property developer in London - big office blocks etc. and knows his legalities backwards) decided not to go for this option and the hassle of gaining permission to turn agricultural land into garden, so suggested we move it by 4 metres into the pastureland slope behind and then by 4 metres towards the rest of the garden - sounds complicated doesn't it without the benefit of a plan to look at!

The upshot of all this movement would be, we take 72 square metres of agricultural land into the garden but also put a different 72 square metres of garden back into being agricultural land - so the whole process is just a swap of land.

The client thinks the planners will go for this more readily and I am inclined to agree - it just means that I will have to get back on the drawing board and re-draw the tennis court (quite a quick process) but will also have to redraw the whole of the walled potager garden four metres further west!! No quick task as the potager is quite a complex design of raised beds, ground level beds and borders, pathways, a pool, a summerhouse and a glasshouse with cold frames - thank goodness for tracing paper although if I had persevered in learning Vectoworks, it might only take a few minutes!.

That's clients for you - always changing their minds! Just as well it has just started raining heavily - I will leave my labours in my own garden and get back to labouring to solve the problems in someone else's garden.

Watch this space for more progress reports..................................