My aunt and uncle's house has 1642 written on it, which was when it was last rebuilt from scratch. For the last few hundred years or so it has been simply patc

My aunt and uncle's house has 1642 written on it, which was when it was last rebuilt from scratch. For the last few hundred years or so it has been simply patched with more mud, straw and horse piss. It too has no foundations to speak of unless you count the rather hard earth on which it stands. I tried smacking it with a lump hammer and once I'd stopped vibrating, I could not see a dent in it. One day I'll get a decent sized masonry bit out and see just how hard it really is but I suspect it is harder or at least tougher than the modern concrete base in my 1920s job. Back on topic, we have a 50' walnut tree in our garden that we tend to. It gets a feed every other year. Next door is a 100+ acre park, mostly woodland: oak, ash, beech, horse chestnut etc. It is really starting to look lovely after a 10 year plan to get rid of the laurels, which were planted about 150 odd years back but have turned out to be invasive, poisonous and left unchecked nearly took over completely.