A Perfect Gift

The gates are nearly finished. Before giving the impression that there is an 18th century-style enclosure going on around the ecohouse's land, these are the kind of gates that stand about in the middle of fields and woodland looking civilised and often beautiful but can be walked round as they are not attached to fences. You can see lots of examples in Ireland, as well as in Tuscany.

What they do is send a message: Welcome guest, is what they say. We don't want vehicles inside the inner area of the farm, though people and animals on foot are free to roam. The gates can close the road if we choose, though everyone is in a half-track (all right, four wheel drive) so roads are messages too: drive here, not anywhere.

The builder has made such a kind gesture, apart from the gate pillars themselves being a work of art, built from the worked stones that remained after the village house was restored. He has had a stone carved with the name of the farm and with Mr HG's initials in the corner, and incorporated it into the pillars. This is his gift, organised and secretly prepared, and delights us.

Everywhere on the ecohouse the initials of the earlier-generations owners are carved, together with the date of building works and restorations. The earliest we have found is 1629 - same intials of course; so it's lovely to have the current bearer's efforts recorded on the gateposts.