We haven't really made any decisions about planting yet. My parents want to plant another large tree to replace the big conifer, but they can't decide what. Beyond that, I would hope my brother gets involved with some planting as he is the most green-fingered member of the family, but we shall have to see. As long as the ivy grows back enough to hide the garden fence again, I'll be content!
Mr. Bond, the W&U coach is from GRS, but I'm afraid her story is not an entirely happy one. It really isn't a kit for beginners, which is what I was when I bought it in 2004, and the instructions were poor. They contained only two poorly-photocopied black and white photos of the completed model to refer too, plus a crude hand-drawn diagram that purported to explain how to assemble the balcony railings. These railings would not stay glued together, and my attempts to solder the whitemetal castings went disasterously wrong; hence, to this day she runs without railings! The instructions also gave no explanation of how to assemble the bogies, just kind of assuming that you knew these things.
In service, she has continued to give problems...twice one of the bogies has simply disintegrated while the coach was in use, and she struggles with the tighter curves on the MVR. Oh, and I didn't paint her very well either (though admittedly that's not GRS's fault). I'd really like to strip her down to bare resin and start again, but am not sure how one would go about that on a vehicle so big.
Anyway, my advice to everyone out there is: don't buy this kit!
(And no, they don't do a 4-wheel version. I did examine the bodysides to see if they could be cut down, but concluded that it couldn't be done - at least, not prototypically.)
And yes, I like 45mm gauge
I feel a larger gauge is better suited to the MVR's supposed original role as an agricultural railway. Think Welshpool or the Irish 3' gauge.
Anyway, moving swiftly on, looking great, are you going to do something with the spaces now, like add scale-ish planting etc? Or just as it is?