Preparations

This is the space we ended up with between the shed and the camp wagon.

It looks OK during the day with the sun shining and the ground quite dry.

On a moonless night, in wet weather it was a very different story and we lost a few guests down that gap between the earth and the undercarriage.

A hilarious event for everyone inside but quite unpleasant for the hapless victim.

The concrete is darker but the platform is much as it was in 1994

Making the Mix

We needed to pour a platform and concrete was the only sensible material as the water pouring off the Camp Wagon roof would make short work of an earthen solution.

It wasn't straightforward - we needed to form up a vertical wall under the edge of the Camp Wagon to create the platforms face and there were several pipes which needed to be accommodated as they would emerge from this face..

We decided to use a traveling form - one which we could move from place to place as the sections were poured and which could be manipulated from the top.

Mid Pour

That's the edge of the form work which vaguely conformed to the earth and you can see the first section has been poured but the granite has not yet been laid in the concrete.

Platform complete

A glimpse of the platform once completed.

You can just make out the granite pieces laid in the concrete and the open-air gutter along the edge which catches the water falling off the roof during rain.

The Steps

We made steps at either end.

These are the poured earth steps at the western end of the platform - we were still investigating how far we could push the envelope with partially stabilised poured earth.

These are made with a decomposed granite and 5% cement - we didn't really expect them to last but we wanted to see what would happen over time.

The view from the other direction which shows the construction.

The clay was shaped to form flat steps and about 150mm of poured earth added to the top and granite pieces laid in it to retard the decomposition due to foot traffic.

We used a very stiff mix and no formwork whatsoever - you can see what a versatile building material earth can be.

The steps wearing their winter coat of moss
They have lasted extremely well although
they do demand respect in wet weather

Disabled access

We even added disabled access further down the path - this is made of concrete as it straddles a drain.

disabled access in 2009