Converting a drain into a rill

Farewell municipal drain. Well that is a bit mean as I found the pale coloured drain in the middle of our courtyard quite fetching.

We had to do something to save us from the downpours of sudden rain we have been enduring for the past few years.  If you look in the Farm Tour section of the site and look at the Courtyard you will see what changes have been made in response to the conditions.

I must confess I loved the gravel as it had variations of colour and had the added benefit of letting you hear people coming as they crunched up to the front door.

Right now we are on limestone hoggin and this concrete drain right down the middle.

It was made with great care by Bebere and Etienne, working on the camber and getting it to flow right where the storm water swirls.

But it does resemble a lot of drains that you see in the middle of cobbled streets in hilly villages in France.

So what was the solution? Paint of course.

All of the planters right beside this drain – well, let’s be poncy and call it a rill – are Farrow and Ball downpipe grey.  So matching that was going to be the ideal.

Except I only needed one litre of the stuff, and F and B only sell masonry paint in whopping five litre tins.

My friend Lynn came to the rescue.  She very kindly went and fetched me some from her local paint mixer near her home in Manchester and hauled out a tin of a litre on the train at Easter.  What generosity and kindness.  She and Jeff can only come out to their home over the mountain twice a year so it was luck and timing that she was coming out just when I knew I needed to change the colour of the rill.

It does mean that my annual painting chores are extended to the outside as well.  But if you want a grey feature in your courtyard, then you have to put in the work.