Demolition

The two garages needed to be removed to make way for the new access road.

The first was a pre-fab garage and was dismantled and taken away buy an eBay buyer.

The second was somewhat more of a challenge requiring, brute force and machinery!

The rubble was saved to use later for the retaining walls at the bottom of the garden.

Naming

We approached Croydon Council with some ideas for a name. Quite a few of our suggestions involved the word 'Hartley'. For reasons of emergency service confusion they understandably weren't too happy with this. So we then put our thinking caps on.

Esledes

Esledes is a Saxon word meaning slope or hillside. It is also the name of an old Saxon village in Kent and first appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086. Apparently in these times the letter 's' was sometimes silent, (confusing for the Axons no doubt!) and through time the name evolved to be Leeds.

This is the reason why the Castle that now stands there is called Leeds Castle and has nothing to do with Leeds in Yorkshire.

So as well as having a sloping plot to contend with Esledes is also appropriate as it is where we were married in 2002.

A Short History of Esledes

1086 - First Mentioned in the Domesday Book
1087 - 2001 Lots of other stuff involving wars, Kings, Queens etc
2002 - Tony & Julie get married