The time soon came around for us to pack every thing we had and move from our home in Bulark , near Chepstow to Crickhowell. When we first accepted the job we were offered a cottage on the back road to Llangynidr. But that was changed. We were told they felt it might not be the best place with small children, it was situated on a high point dropping down to a very deep pool in the river usk. The usk runs right through this beautiful estate, Once a thriving with a great run of salmon.

The house we moved into, That would be home to us for the next eight years, was, "The Bothy", now known has "the garden Cottage, This was an old property that had been converted from the Gardeners office and potting sheds, It had a high wall all round and several old victorian type greenhouses built against the wall across from the house. A very large garden and a row of out buildings running on down from our home. The move there took the whole of a week-end. I only had a small Austin A35 van, so it was all day on Friday and Saturday starting very early in the morning, By early I mean around 4.30am both days. Trip after trip, On each of those days I done 3 trips back and for from Chepstow to Crickhowell, a Journey of about 30 miles each way. That was with boxes of small stuff, Kitchen items, books childrens clothes, our clothes, try moving the list is endless. You would never think anyone could gather up together so much stuff in just a few years. On the Sunday a friend Charlie Attwell, a local builder, he had a small lorry with an open back, Just drop down sides and tailgate. Ideal for our furniture, We did not have a great deal, but all to big for my small van. Chalie turned up early on the Sunday, well what he called early, 9.00am and we got loaded. Beds, table and chairs, Settee and side seats. it was piled on and rope down safe for the journey. We left Chepstow around 11.00am It`s an hour and a quarter trip normally , I had Cathy and the Children with me in our van, Charlie followed on. It was a nice warm dry day of early summer, just good and thank goodness no rain. On arriving at the Bothy, which is situated in the centre of the Estate parklands, Near by was the old stable block, The Estate Mansion was there, but had long been demolished and the Garden ground of the Mansion planted up with spruce. It was all hands to get unloaded and everything in some sort of order, The chidrens room, our room, the Living room, bathroom and kitchen. Not what you call a big house, but it was our new home. The big garden made it, Plenty of room for all. After lunch Charlie departed to go back on his journey to Chepstow, and we continued getting thing straight. That first night we were all so exhausted we slept like logs. I did not have to start work immediatley so given time to settle. It was the following Monday that I first started work. I met Tim Hutching at the estate yard, and we went off down the back road towards Crickhowell, stopping at the back lodge, and parking up, He showed me a planation of Norway spruce and fire breaks of beech, This had only been planted around two years. so still very young, It had not been touched since planting so the growth of nettles, briars and weed buried most of the small trees, I was given a long handle grass hook and told my job was to weed, cut away all the rubbish and leave the small trees room to grow, The cut rubbish was rowed up so high it was hard to keep it from falling back on these planted spruce and beech. Still that was the job. There was approximately three acre in this plantation, a bit of a daunting task. But I got on with the job, I was used to working on my own, so up each row, row after row, My only company was a little weasel that would pop up over the clearings, each time I stopped to sharpen my hook. I think he was inquisitive and wondered what i was up to. About 11.00am on that first morning someone shouted, Looking up I saw it was Cathy with the Children, Elizabeth holding onto the side of the push chair, Jared sat and all wrap up and asleep. They were off into Crickhowell for a bit of grocery shopping. Nice walk on a lovely day. I wave and they continued on. Each day for the next two weeks I continued on with the weeding, I was on my own all the while, I started to wonder it there was any other staff on the Estate because I had not seen another soul. Still at it, then one morning I spotted this fella walking up and across the bank towards me. On his arrival he Introduced himself, " Hello, I`m Billy Hester, Game keeper and fellow woodsman, Pleased to meet you". we chatted for a short while, then he said, He would be giving me a hand tomorrow, to meet him at the tractor shed, That was in the estate yard. I thought great some company and help, this job would be done faster, Well next day, there was another chap there too, He was Cecile Thomas, He had been the farm balliff, up un till he retired. Both men had been born on the Estate and lived all their lives there. It was good and much better with this help, the job went faster and soon completed. Well at least for that year, We had the same job three more year to do each summer till the trees were big enough to smother out the undergrowth. More to come on my time on the estate, yes I was there for eight years.