The message
from Jane Lumley contains these words:

Thanks so much to all for your help - we've found a house with an acre
of land.... but I'm not saying any more in case one of you gazumps me!
.

Well, really! If you're that suspicious of us.....

......you can tell us when it's yours.

Thing is, said acre is currently rather exposed to wind and traffic
noise, so dh and I are eager to make a walled garden by building brick
walls around at least part of it. Are we mad?

Maybe. You'd be surprised just how much noise a good dense hedge will
absorb. Walls are expensive things to build, though in the right
position can be used to grow fruit against.

You will need to get planning permission probably. If it's windy and
really exposed, lengths of wall tend to come down. Think
'crinkly-crankly': you use more bricks, but it is not likely to be blown
over.

Best to attend an evening class in bricklaying: it's not really
difficult. I was taught by Old Bob, [1] a brickie's labourer - he was in
his nineties and still labouring. (It got a bit much for him when he was
ninety eight (IIRC) and he got a job cleaning Mr. Whippy vans.)

I've looked at several
websites and the art of bricklaying seems very jargon laden. Does
anyone know of a site in plain English? And has anyone ever done one of
those night-school bricklaying courses?

Oops! Got a bit ahead of myself there! Old Bob taught me properly, using
matured lime mortar and having the frogs in the bricks on the underside
so water doesn't seep into them and freeze during the winter. Nowadays,
because it's easier and quicker, brickies tend to lay courses with the
frogs upwards. "Oh, that's all right as long as you point them
well....." Pah!

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)