For most of the time I've been building Highworth I was accessing the garage through the main "up and over" door. As the railway was pretty much circular this meant that to get to the freezer we all needed to limbo under two baseboards then do the return journey clutching frozen food! Not ideal, but it kept us fit.

The major disadvantage was that whenever I was working on the layout it was exposed to the elements. That made it almost impossible to do anything through the winter months.

So, we bit the bullet and installed a side door. Very soon the lawn leading to said door was a trampled mess, so last weekend I put a path in. Seemed a good idea to finish it off with a rose arch. So, this morning planted up "Malvern Hills" rose and "Kingfisher" clematis. In theory these should flower blue and yellow. Not sure I had BR colours in mind when I chose them, but who knows how the old grey cells work. Garden path, rose arch and plants probably cost sub £100 and there were numerous beer points awarded. Off to spend them later....