Bilbo

For Bill Drever ♥ went to sleep January 28th 2014 aged 87.

A quote from my lovely friend Yvonne Starrs who had the pleasure of meeting him at the ponies field

"He was a funny man Elaine and you and John gave him lovely memories and happy days too. Sending hugs to you both. The stables are a place of happiness and memories of those who have passed on, both 2 and 4 legged, it is a special place that you and John have built with love and that love affects everyone who visits. You create memories for everyone who visit and I always smile at memories of the days I have been there. Bless you both and Bill xxx"

Lots of love

Yvonne

xxx

Yvonne Starrs pictured with Leo & Hudson.

Having a seat

Bill Drever - Glencadam gardener having a seat with me watching the ponies and mustering up energy to help us cut the surrounding beech hedges

Snow Patrol

What a welcoming sight we had this day after our heavy overnight snowfall. Bill happily wiping the snow away from the top gate before clearing a pathway for us.

It was the little gestures like these that meant so much to us

A bit of pruning

pruning the sycamore tree that overlooks the ponies field and Bills cottage.

Bill was always happy pottering about the Estate keeping things neat & tidy and enjoyed our company & help.

A bit of pruning

Breaking up the branches for burning at the woods

At the woods

Always a familair sight - Bill up at the woods burning the dried leaves, fallen branches & twigs and the ponies hay & straw sweepings that had fallen to the ground when filling up the haynets etc. It was always fuel for his fires.

At the woods

What a pair! Bill & hubby at the woods. Dare I say having "a daft moment" being ninjas!

Men at work

Bill & hubby taking some time out to pose for the camera.

The pair of them had worked hard filling in the potholes on the driveway with gravel

Stable Hands

Bill always took a keen interest in what we were doing regards modifications to the stables etc and often said we "kept a tidy ship" and that he had never seen the paddocks look as well as they do. Given there is no drainage, it churns to mud very quickly when wet and over the years our improvements have helped to minimise this problem

Relaxing

Holiday time and we would pop up to the gardens to make sure Bill was ok bringing with us a treat for him - one of his favourites

A mars bar Ice cream

Bulb Planting

Planting some crocus bulbs in amongst the snowdrops at the perimeter fence of paddock 5 near to the burn

Sit on? or ride on?

Bill HATED the phrase ride on mower! To him it was a sit on. This was taken from paddock 5 looking up into the woods when he was dumping the acorn shells and beech nut shells along with some of the Autumn leaves that had fallen. This is the noise and sight that I miss the most - Bill going up and down the driveway, cutting the grass and hearing the crunching of the shells as the mower scooped them up