Sunday 14 October 2012

1 room finished

Finally the bathroom is finished on a shoe string ;0)

The suite was left by the previous owner in a bedroom.
The tiles are old slate roofs we found in a barn.
The paint we found in the utility room.
The chair & toilet cupboard were found in a barn.
The mirror was in the sink room.
We also found the chest of drawers at the side of a road when we lived in Fleet.
The curtain pole is a tree branch found at the back of the house.

All we need to do now is save up for a shower! Come on PPI...





Brief house update

Finally we have had the woodworm in the loft treated at great expense and also we have had free loft insulation fitted, so hopefully we can retain any heat we manage to make in the house.

The next step is to get a wood burning stove fitted in the lounge before the beginning of December as ole smokey was condemned.

Steve has also been digging the water pipes underground to save them from freezing.

Harvest

Finally the brambles have produced some fruit although due to the weather we have had this year we haven't got a many as we would have liked considering how many brambles we have everywhere.

Thanks to Sarah, Jules and Helen for helping to start the harvest.

We have managed to gather, sloes for sloe gin, haws for haw sauce, rosehips for rose hip & apple jelly and of course elderberries and blackberries for jam...Yum!


The best ones were always right at the top of the trees!


Blackberry, elderberry & apple jam

Rosehips


Rosehip & apple jelly
Haws for haw sauce


Finally cleared

A huge thanks to Steve's dad Spencer and his godfather Derek for their stint whilst looking after our roost and to friends Mossy, Gen and Rick who helped when they visited us in August.

The garden area is now free of brambles and we need to start planning the veggie patch ready for spring...








The mouser arrives!

Due to the fact the mice have decided to set up camp in our roof and under the floors in the house we were thinking of getting a farm cat to help us out with the situation. Then one of Steve's colleagues at work mentioned she had a kitten that needed a home so we decided it was fate and Comet became the newsest member of the Watson solar system ;0).

Comet arrives



First outing
Meeting the ducks
Straight up the Mulberry tree


Star has started to tolerate her now after 3 months and now the fight is on for the best lap position!

All grown up


Monday 9 July 2012

A new discovery

Whilst on our daily walk we decided to clip a few branches on our way round which quickly turned into a clearing frenzy and in the process we uncovered two gates and access into another part of the land. Unfortunately it all happened so spontaneously I didn't take any before photos before we had cleared it all but put it this way we didn't know the gates were there!






Meet our new neighbours

Our neighbour Peter who farms beef cattle purchased the land at the bottom of us (from the guy we bought the house) has finally finished the fence and we now have some new neighbours...






Jungle fever

The land has been enjoying the rain, i'll say no more, it is a constant battle between us and the weeds.


Some of them are twice the height of me!


We are having to carve paths through the bracken.



Star has been helping to clear our way!


Before


 During – the ducks were enjoying the all you can eat buffet that was laid out before them!


After - phew


Rain, rain go away come again another day!

With all the rain we have been having we have discovered a few more leaks around the house, mainly the roof in the utility room but a few puddles have seeped up through the floor. We think it is where we are on the valley side and the surface water has come through, so it is fun and games. Here is a picture of a little newt I found in the utility room!


We have been clearing the stream of debris and with all the rain it has become quite full and fast flowing and has led us to think of the possibility of hydro power.




So this is summer 2012!