Day 2. Digging continues... couldn't start making noise til 9:30 cos SWMBO said it wasn't neighbourly, so was out to Wickes at 7:30 to get a 1800mm spirit level, a folding builders square, and a six pack of 2 x 2 to make stakes from. Had my youngest son helping today driving the barrow so that made it faster, tho the amount of damage to the garage back door frame does make me question that... I was planning to replace that door with a uPVC one sometime as the door itself is going rotten - so might be sooner than later, well have to order doors/windows for the workshop so whats one more door lol (about £250 or so in case you were wondering). Masses of tree roots made digging slower than hoped, each one having to be chopped several times, the digger isn't man enough to lift a 3" dia root and there were about 2 dozen of them under the surface (and still more where I've not yet dug I'll venture). Really needed a chain saw, the circular saw can't handle living wood well, so really only had the mattock/ax and that makes it hard work...

I'm hoping tomorrow will see the end of the digging out, leaving Monday for levelling and tidy up of the sides... at least the digger is in the hole now, was a scary job driving it down the short ramp of earth. Apparently I should leave a ramp in then dig the ramp out after, but that makes it harder, esp as the only place to put the digger will be in a bush I want to keep. I'm thinking 6 pieces of 4 x 3 on end to make 4 x 9, 2.4m long with some 2 x 2 spacers will make a couple of ramps @ 12% (is 4 x 9 overkill for .9ton?) and they can be reused for the shuttering or the out of sight framework for the benches.

Decided to go for a concrete retaining wall, with some extra mesh in it and a DPC between it and the earth, and I'll bury a land drain pipe behind the dpc.

Now, how do you fix a concrete fence post? managed to catch one with the digger when I got confused with my levers :( and it cracked about 6" up from the base... I guess I need to get a new one but how do I get the old one out?? I'm wondering if the digger will lift it out with its cement block... assuming it was post-creted...