Winter-Safe Hedgehog House

Everything I read said hide it at the bottom of the garden behind the compost,
which is exactly what I did with the last one, and I never looked at it again
for two years. This one is three metres from the back door where I can see it
from the sink. It also happens to be the nicest looking thing in the border,
which none of the plywood crates I found online could claim. Nine days in, no
residents yet, but I am quietly hopeful.

Forty odd years as a joiner, so the first thing I did was turn it over and have
a proper look. The bark battens overlap properly down the slope, which is the
bit everybody gets wrong, and it is heavy enough that a fox will not shift it
the way it shifted our last one. I did sit it on two offcuts of slate so it is
not down in the wet grass, because wood on wet ground will wick no matter what
you paid for it. Out since the middle of October through some filthy weather and
the roof has not lifted or warped.

Twenty to midnight, went out to top up the water, and there he was coming
straight at me. I nearly dropped the jug. We have four cats on this street and
my last two boxes ended up as very expensive cat beds, so the entrance was the whole reason I bought this one. Everyone quotes 13cm square as the rule, but a cat gets through 13cm square without breaking stride, and this arch is narrower across and taller. Two months and not one cat has managed it.

My husband was dead against the whole thing because he was certain we would end up with rats, and honestly that was my worry too. What sorted it was changing
how we feed rather than what we bought. Cat biscuits and water only, out at dusk, anything left picked up in the morning, and no bread or milk ever. Six weeks in and not a single rat. The roof lifts off in your hands as well, so the spring clean is going to take about ten minutes.

Everything I read said hide it at the bottom of the garden behind the compost,
which is exactly what I did with the last one, and I never looked at it again
for two years. This one is three metres from the back door where I can see it
from the sink. It also happens to be the nicest looking thing in the border,
which none of the plywood crates I found online could claim. Nine days in, no
residents yet, but I am quietly hopeful.

Forty odd years as a joiner, so the first thing I did was turn it over and have
a proper look. The bark battens overlap properly down the slope, which is the
bit everybody gets wrong, and it is heavy enough that a fox will not shift it
the way it shifted our last one. I did sit it on two offcuts of slate so it is
not down in the wet grass, because wood on wet ground will wick no matter what
you paid for it. Out since the middle of October through some filthy weather and
the roof has not lifted or warped.

Twenty to midnight, went out to top up the water, and there he was coming
straight at me. I nearly dropped the jug. We have four cats on this street and
my last two boxes ended up as very expensive cat beds, so the entrance was the whole reason I bought this one. Everyone quotes 13cm square as the rule, but a cat gets through 13cm square without breaking stride, and this arch is narrower across and taller. Two months and not one cat has managed it.

My husband was dead against the whole thing because he was certain we would end up with rats, and honestly that was my worry too. What sorted it was changing
how we feed rather than what we bought. Cat biscuits and water only, out at dusk, anything left picked up in the morning, and no bread or milk ever. Six weeks in and not a single rat. The roof lifts off in your hands as well, so the spring clean is going to take about ten minutes.

Everything I read said hide it at the bottom of the garden behind the compost,
which is exactly what I did with the last one, and I never looked at it again
for two years. This one is three metres from the back door where I can see it
from the sink. It also happens to be the nicest looking thing in the border,
which none of the plywood crates I found online could claim. Nine days in, no
residents yet, but I am quietly hopeful.

Forty odd years as a joiner, so the first thing I did was turn it over and have
a proper look. The bark battens overlap properly down the slope, which is the
bit everybody gets wrong, and it is heavy enough that a fox will not shift it
the way it shifted our last one. I did sit it on two offcuts of slate so it is
not down in the wet grass, because wood on wet ground will wick no matter what
you paid for it. Out since the middle of October through some filthy weather and
the roof has not lifted or warped.

Twenty to midnight, went out to top up the water, and there he was coming
straight at me. I nearly dropped the jug. We have four cats on this street and
my last two boxes ended up as very expensive cat beds, so the entrance was the whole reason I bought this one. Everyone quotes 13cm square as the rule, but a cat gets through 13cm square without breaking stride, and this arch is narrower across and taller. Two months and not one cat has managed it.

My husband was dead against the whole thing because he was certain we would end up with rats, and honestly that was my worry too. What sorted it was changing
how we feed rather than what we bought. Cat biscuits and water only, out at dusk, anything left picked up in the morning, and no bread or milk ever. Six weeks in and not a single rat. The roof lifts off in your hands as well, so the spring clean is going to take about ten minutes.

Everything I read said hide it at the bottom of the garden behind the compost,
which is exactly what I did with the last one, and I never looked at it again
for two years. This one is three metres from the back door where I can see it
from the sink. It also happens to be the nicest looking thing in the border,
which none of the plywood crates I found online could claim. Nine days in, no
residents yet, but I am quietly hopeful.

Forty odd years as a joiner, so the first thing I did was turn it over and have
a proper look. The bark battens overlap properly down the slope, which is the
bit everybody gets wrong, and it is heavy enough that a fox will not shift it
the way it shifted our last one. I did sit it on two offcuts of slate so it is
not down in the wet grass, because wood on wet ground will wick no matter what
you paid for it. Out since the middle of October through some filthy weather and
the roof has not lifted or warped.

Twenty to midnight, went out to top up the water, and there he was coming
straight at me. I nearly dropped the jug. We have four cats on this street and
my last two boxes ended up as very expensive cat beds, so the entrance was the whole reason I bought this one. Everyone quotes 13cm square as the rule, but a cat gets through 13cm square without breaking stride, and this arch is narrower across and taller. Two months and not one cat has managed it.

My husband was dead against the whole thing because he was certain we would end up with rats, and honestly that was my worry too. What sorted it was changing
how we feed rather than what we bought. Cat biscuits and water only, out at dusk, anything left picked up in the morning, and no bread or milk ever. Six weeks in and not a single rat. The roof lifts off in your hands as well, so the spring clean is going to take about ten minutes.