Aylesmore Court, Chepstow. Lime mortar repointing of walled garden

The Aylesmore Court estate comprises 100 acres of pasture land and grounds with a selection of properties including the beautiful farmhouse with its attached walled garden.

The client required Incastone to complete repairs and significant repointing work on the walled garden with its 200 metres of early 19th century stone walls.

The walls were repaired and repointed using a hydraulic lime mortar in the traditional method. The mix consisted of 3 parts gravel, 0.75 sand, 1 part lime.

Firstly we scraped back loose and worn mortar to a depth of 10-15cm, then soaked the wall and left the area to partly dry before the new mortar was pointed in. After a few days the pointing was brushed back using a wire brush and then smoothed off using a soft nylon brush.

The wall was then protected from sun, wind and frost with a layer of hessian cloth for up to 4-6 months. During sunny days the hessian is soaked to reduce moisture loss from the mortar and in cold weather the wall is covered with old carpet to protect from frost.

Incastone repaired large sections of wall that had suffered from ivy infestation, tree growth and neglect and replaced the coping stones to bring the walls back to their original splendour.

We have finished this job for the winter as it is not advisable to work with lime mortars below 5°C. We will return in March 2009 to continue the project.