first Christmas at BCB and the start of the basement campaign

So this weekend was our first ever proper family meal at BCB.
My two sisters and husbands came down to stay for a meal Saturady night at the cottage, around our new table. We had our first Christmas tree, and decorations!!...Such are the benefits of a year of major progress.
...oh and we had a wonderful night (we won't mention why my sister stuffed oranges down her jumper at 1am!!)

Sunday (after we had cleared up the mess) ...Lloyd arrived, to help with the start of the battle of the  Basement....

First we pulled up the old floorboards...
Here are the only remaining original lath&plaster in the house, we would love to have saved it, but too difficult (we saved some of the larger pieces for posterity)

Took out all the joists (they'r pretty much all shot), we will have replace them all I think.
A nice shot of the fireplace in mid air !!

We spent the rest of the time clearing out, then digging out the channel to let the water run out freely.

The astute among you will notice the crappy old garden wheelbarrow... within 30mins of starting the job, we got a flat tyre in the big American style (awesome) wheelbarrow we would normally have used...you have no idea  how much harder it made the job.

As the light faded (and it got a lot colder) Lloyd focused on getting the door closed up, and I took the lime render off a few walls....then retired to the inglenook room, and spent the night by the fire, drinking Brain SA, and singing Pulp and Beautiful South songs..:)

Monday morning, we (after recovering from similar hangovers)...took up half of the cobbles, took, out more of the trench, and took off more of the lime render...and tidied up before leaving.

If your interested in such things (as I am)...take a look at the number of layers of lime render/wash that have been applied to the walls of this wonderfull old house...  up close, I counted at least 20

Next week I (no Lloyd dammit)... will lay in the perforated pipe into the trench, cover with gravel. Take out the rest of the cobbles and clean up ready to start re-liming, and replacing the oak.

finally... i took a picture of the cobbles before I complete taking them up next week...a lovely pattern, that I need to replicate when I relay them into NHL5 .

Lower hallway

with the new back door in place, time to work on the lower hallway...
As it was...

The entrance to the cellar is onthe right (cant see it in this picture)

and now...

Jan has decorated the area with her decorations

Blinkin' cold

Sunny and cold this Saturday, but wet overnight, and poured down on Sunday morning, then the skies cleared and a lovely blue sky for the afternoon...The weather is a wonder here, you really notice the changes in the light, which are sometimes dramatic. When I arrived ( a lovely clear Saturday morning), there was a strange mist just hanging to the Northerly slopes of the valleys. We are used to the morning mist that lays in the Towy river valley below, but this was something I havent seen before...always something new to appreciate.

Never got above 11c in the house...even with the fire going...I need a bigger Fire !!

Did a number of small jobs ...

• Fitted the weather bar to the base of the new back door
• Another coat of limewash on the Library chimney wall (another 2 or 3 should do it)...se photo below.
• Cleared the area around the outside entrance to the Cellar.. I will need to get a wheelbarrow to this entrance when the major cellar project begins, after Christmas.
• Jan put the first coat of paint on the new dining table (Paint effects are a mystery to me !)
• Jan also put the first coat of paint (grey again!!) on the back door.
• Delivered the new chairs we found in the local second hand junk shop..

Library Chimney wall....2 coats of limewash..still drying.

Photos of the cellar...before I start the major project
The hole in the library floor (this will be a trapdoor when finished).

trenches for the perforated pipe...to drain the water

The joists are shot in that corner, so an Acro Prop is required for now.