Dave Hill wrote:
In the days of my youth we lived in the country outside Hastings, and
every 2 or 3 years we would dig a good trench 2 ft deep and the width
of the veg patch, the "Sludge" from the septic tank would then be
brought out by the bucket full and tipped into said trench, This was
then covered with the soil and the crop of runner beans we grew was
first class.

But would I be right in think, David, it was a job you weren't
particularly keen on? :-)

When we lived in West Wales we had a stream divided up into six ponds
and six waterfalls. All very beautiful but during the rains of autumn,
winter, and spring the stream brought down silt, gravel, and twigs from
the hill further up and so every summer one of my jobs was to pump out
all the water from each pond and then get in there and fork out the
sludge which by then had long been decomposing (full of autumn leaves).
The stink was horrendous. The contents of a septic tank must be worse?
I'll leave the extraction to the jolly young chap who apparently does
all the houses in this area.

Eddy.