Proposed Stable Block

[RingPrepHaloDoppleganger]

Hello. A bit of advice, please.
I'm thinking of building a stable block, of 3 or 4 stables plus a tack room.
Normally, I'd be reasonably confident of just ploughing ahead. But on this occasion there are some serious considerations, see diagram.

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• RingPrepHaloDoppleganger
• 28 Nov 2014
• 1

The trees are not important, they need at least serious reduction in height because there is some danger of them falling across the road one day, and bringing the telephone lines down with them. They do already lean a little. I can either cut them down to about 2 metres in height or remove them altogether. There is a line of about 20 metres of them along the boundary.

The ground generally, below topsoil, is stoney/sandy clay. The sort that is well drained normally but becomes very greasy and slippery when wet, when exposed.

So the area of advice that is needed, is the foundations. Obviously I'll be pouring a slab, but how do I go about stabilising the bank and ensuring the stables do not eventually end up sliding into the ditch?
All dimensions on the drawing are approximate. The exact position of the stables from the ditch is variable according to requirements.

The only deciding factor about distance from boundary for the stables, although I'd like to keep it to the minimum, is really:
Replacement boundary screening if the trees go completely, I don't want the rear wall of the stables to delineate the boundary, and,
Access for maintenance between stables and boundary screening, if trees are replaced or retained.

Thanks in advance for any advice or further consideration.

p.s. Incidentally, I don't want to replace the ditch wall with any man-made structure. It looks proper as it is in its natural state.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

What's the dimension between the top of the bank and the stable?

 

[RingPrepHaloDoppleganger]

At the moment the trees are literally on the edge of the top of the bank.
I'd probably go further and say that without the trees the top of the bank might have migrated/eroded further into the ex-orchard.

The stables to ditch dimension is to be determined by necessity, but I'd like it to be minimum for reasons mentioned in first post.
It could conceivably be upto 3 metres, but I'd like to keep it below 2 metres if possible.
The area between the trees and the barn, which has vehicular access (not large machinery, just cars, small tractors, small trucks), about 3 metres in from corner of barn, is about 15 metres so any ground lost to the space between stables and boundary is ground lost to circulation space in front of stables.
I'll add a plan drawing.

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• RingPrepHaloDoppleganger
• 28 Nov 2014
• 1

Incidentally, the ground falls away towards the top of the plan, so the height of the bank, from bottom of ditch, by the driveway is perhaps less than 1 metre, but at the other end it may be as much as 2.5 metres.
To be more precise, the road and ditch fall away, but the ex-orchard ground does not until the field boundary where it falls away sharply, but I'll re-model that after the stables are constructed, one oak tree removed and the gate is installed.

Just another couple of drawings to illustrate the situation.
A diagrammatic view as though standing on the driveway:

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• RingPrepHaloDoppleganger
• 28 Nov 2014
• 1

And a diagrammatic view from the road:

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• RingPrepHaloDoppleganger
• 28 Nov 2014
• 1