Easter weekend..very productive!

Easter weekend here..
A beautiful and sunny weekend (how unusual is that), although the rain eventual came....
Made great progress, Jan in the Orchard, clearing all the paths and loads of the brambles.
I achieved what i wanted to (more or less) in the hall and landing...it looks amazing.


Planned jobs to do:

1. Finish cladding and architrave/skirting on the landing.
2. Clad the ceiling in the hallway with bisquit-board
3. 2nd lime-render coat in hallway
4. 2nd lime-render on landing
5. First (major) cut of the orchard, and usual bramble clearing

Sounds simple eh!

FRIDAY

Arrived lunchtime and carried on with #1. #2 and Jan with #5
In the evening, a bonfire of the Spring cut-back of Budlea, and assorted bramble.
A warm evening + BBQ

SATURDAY
Full day of hard work in the orchard, managed to complete #3, jan cracked on with #5, tough work.
This time of year, the first clear of the orchard is the most important....hard work, but Jan cracked on all day.
Managed to complete most of the hallway liming
Small BBQ of the cut bramble and assorted wood waste, then a dinner over the stove

SUNDAY
Jan did immense work in the orchard (#5)
I finished liming most of the landing(#4)

Jan also painted the shed/bathroom....this is our bathroom/shower !!

Exhausted...headed home lunch time.

wall cladding....

A rather lovely weekend....went down Saturday morning, stayed overnight.

The old wood looks great on the hall and landing walls.
Managed to finish the Hall, including skirting and architrave.
All but finished the landing, but didnt have enough wood to complete the architrave &skirting.

cant wait to get back down and finish them off.

turned a corner....

Saturday 5th April
We have been looking for a long time for suitable wood for the cladding of walls in the hallway, landing, inside the Inglenook room and the Library (and the cupboards in Alys' room and the Inglenook). Having tried new T&G on the cupboard, it didn't look right, just too new.

So we called into Llanelli Salvage (Radnedge Architectural salvage where we bought Owen's fireplace), who have a warehouse full of old wood. Lots of lovely old doors, oak beams, floorboards etc. Right at the back we found what we were looking for. Old cladding, I think that it would have been used for the back of wardrobes, although the lengths(8ft +) would indicate some pretty large wardrobes. Sizes varied (5-7 inches wide), and crucially the right thickness, at about 1/4 inch. Rather rough, with holes and cracks but thats what we wanted. Also there was plenty of it, so we bought 12sq yards to start off with.
Looks pretty good on the Inglenook cupboard and one wall of the Hallway, so I think this will suffice for all the other walls. It wasnt suitable for panelling pieces (they need to be thicker), so will call in again next week and get more, and look for more suitable panelling pieces.

This will now allow me to finish off the hallway, landing Alys' room and the Inglenook room, and I can start liming up to it.
Which is why I feel this is a great turning point !!

It needs to be sanded down and painted(not too much, dont want to loose it character), but I think it will provide a lovely old  and authentic finish.
(I will take pictures next week, when ive fitted the architrave and skirting)

Jan put another coat of paint on Alys' door, and on the Inglenook windowsill, and on the Inglenook cupboard shelves.
..also put together the cupboard door(that I had previosly taken apart) made it smaller, so I can now use it to clad with the new wood and fit next week.

A wet and windy day, so didnt spend any time outside!

A gorgeous spring day

The first visit for a few weeks, a lovely warm and sunny early spring day today...windows flung open...a good airing after such a wet Winter and Spring.

Came down Saturday afternoon, with our old Pine chest of drawers...The first piece of clothing furniture in the house! Gosh it looked small in that huge bedroom.

I finally fitted Alys' new bedroom door, Jan painted it on the Sunday.
Jan finished painting the kitchen cupboard, and varnished the shelves.. and the Ash Windowsill in the Inglenook room..which looks great.

I spent Sunday morning framing the alcove in Alys' bedroom. Then after running out of wood, I started leveling the base for our new Shed/Workshop in the orchard, which will be installed this spring, and allow us to empty the house of the tools.

We were woken this morning by the jackdaws making their new nest in the hole in the north wall (See photo)...so noisy !!!
Couldn't see them when I got up, but managed to capture a picture of the treecreeper/great tit, that has made its nest again in the smaller holes just below (maybe Roy can confirm the species?)
Also heard the woodpecker making a hole this morning.

The new apple trees look good, hopefully will flower soon.
I took the winter protective cover off the Ginko tree, looking forward to another year of growth and strength for our beautiful tree.

....our old (original) back door...we're going to order a new replacement this year, but wanted to capture its old rugged, worn beauty!

a super day, and slow but steady progress.

Glorious day in Wales (after the deluge)

Went down on Sunday(16th) for the day, after a few weeks gap. (either too wet, too wild, or too tired).
Weather was beatiful, with clear blue skies, and warm sun (ish).
Jan started painting the cupboard, and I finished off Alys' door. Sanding, planing to size and adding the cross braces, glued and doweled into place. Jan will paint it next week, and then I will hang it.
Decided that the panelling n the cupboard isnt too our liking, so stripped it off, and we will go looking for some old wood/planking at the Architectural Salvage site in Llanelli soon

just another Sunday..

a fairly typical BCB day.....

• a wet weekend in January so chose the best of the two days
• we promise to get up early on a Sunday...woke up at 9, leave at 9:30..dammit!
• thankfully a lovely day, with a cold mist hanging in the Towy valley below...eerie 
• Jan painted upstairs, finishing the skirting, door and sills.
• I continued to line the hidden cupboard.
• Morgan (our Choc Lab) came with us and spent the day chewing sticks !
• soup cooked on the top of the fire...v nice, v much needed !
• Checked the newly planted apple trees (for deer attack) ,and all is well..so far
• Left at 3:30...so just a few hours of work..frustrating but always progress..inch by inch

a day in the orchard...

It was such a beautiful and day at BCB today, clear blue skies, no wind at all, but quite cold (barely 4c). So we decided to spend the day working outside.  Gorgous views to the Beacons !

Called into Dolau Hirion Fruit tree nursery, Capel Issac on the way, and bought 6 new Apple trees.
2 Discovery (MM106 rootstock)
2 Sunset (MM100)
1 Tom Putt (M111) , a Cider apple
1 Kingston Black (MM106)
A great place with a massive selection of fruit trees, and the owner was so very helpful and with deep knowledge. We will have to take our apples to him next Autumn to get them identified.

Ive been meaning to go there for a while, as we have a few "under-performing" apple trees that needed to be replaced. So dug out two sad creatures, replaced with 6 ...+4 for the orchard !

Also planted the potted Chrstmas tree, which is now Owen's official tree !

Our(4) children have a tree each, which somehow represents them.

• Tom's was the first to be planted, a Copper Beech, growing well, and over 8ft now
• Lloyd's Monkey puzzle tree was planted last year, and is just getting established.
• Alys has adopted a beautiful existing Sequoia at the bottom of the orchard, but the adoption ceremony has yet to be officially made !. So there may be a swap to a specific Alys planting at some point.
• Today we planted Owen's Christmas tree...he will come down with us soon to see that it is planted in the right place. 

We spent the rest of the time clearing brambles, tree suckers, and cutting back the two huge overgrown Budlliea near the front of the house. I got to use my new machete (Brazilian Tramontina) in anger...a fabulous tool, definately my new best friend !

PS...Unfortunately gashed my hand...no idea how ! (it wasnt the Tramontina in case your worrying)
This will also become a theme !!