The Old Clay Court
Today, on one of the last days of August, we FINALLY began clearing the old clay tennis court. This project has been perhaps the biggest victim of our summer’s alternative plans. Not only was this project non-mission-critical, we also don’t play tennis and can’t see the court from the house, so when we needed to tighten our summer scope, this was the first and fastest to get the axe. But after navigating our way through the katabasis that was our first summer at Grandview, we are entirely out the other side and recovering our gameplan, even if we’re the better part of a season behind schedule.
It’s hard to believe that this tennis court exists. It’s protected on all four sides from wind by towering trees and/or a hillside. The view to the south is over an open field straight into the jagged White Mountains. The court is clay, fenced, and flanked to the East with sprawling old growth gardens. I don’t even play tennis, which is a shame to admit as I stand on this court and consider it’s state of decay.
And decayed it is. We didn’t maintain it this season and that’s on us, but it wasn’t maintained last season either. To be honest, there looks like three or more years of neglect on the surface to me. The red clay is bone dry, turning to dust at any disturbance. In many areas, there is no clay at all, just a harder, sandier material with light drainage lines from rain runoff and lack of maintenance. Pine needles and leaves have fallen and not been collected for at least two years, including this one. The fence is fine for now but definitely entering if not well into the final phase of its life.
Best of all, I don’t know anything at all about maintaining a tennis court.
I’m going to be honest, because that’s what this project is all about: we want to rip the tennis court out. Our vision is for a barn up against the North (back) portion of the court area, then outdoor seating and fenced gardens across the forward portions. The barn’s South face would open up and probably include a large working garden kitchen/prep space, bathroom, and more seating. We’re leaving open the possibility for either (or both) small animals on the far side of the building (chickens, etc.), or an in-law suite incorporated… likely above. Our intent would be to design and build it ourselves. I genuinely like the thought of having a maintained clay court in my yard, and if I can get it fixed up I’ll use it, but this garden concept is really inspiring and I think would be an innovative and productive use of the space. It helps us lean into our goals here, but also improves the value of the property. This house is built for an addition like this. If we’re trying to call this place an estate, then building materially scaled and finished outbuildings that fit the property’s aesthetic and entertain as well as they function feels like leaning in.
Luckily or not, depending on how you feel about tennis, we’re not going to have the time or money to take on the barn project for years. I’m guessing five, if not more. So as long as we’re stuck with the clay court for that long, I’m going to fix it and use it. Which means I’m going to learn about it.
My goal for this project is to get the surface prepped correctly for winter (I don’t know what that means yet), so that I can improve and then use it next season. But for today, raking the accumulated pine debris off of about a quarter of the court surface, picking some flowers with the wife and kids, and pretending to be performative ninjas felt like progress.
Next steps for this one are all research. I’ve poked at it a little bit already and there’s not exactly a wealth of information on clay court restoration and maintenance available online. But I’ll figure it out. There’s an insane amount of unwinterized water infrastructure around the court, so I’ve got a feeling water plays into court maintenance. There’s no water in the system, so it must be shut off in the house. I’ve found the shutoff to the pool house, but not to the gardens. That alone is going to take some work. Then I need to figure out if the system has been damaged. Then comes learning how to repair the court. I’ve read that red clay can be bought by the bucket for this application, then I think you toss it out on the court and roll it flat with a little roller that was left in the garage? Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out and make it happen.
