cobbles....and more cobbles...

spent a very productive long weekend in Wales..
Took delivery of more course sand on Friday, which allowed me to crack on with laying cobbes in the basement. A labourious job, but once you get into the rhythm,
 - make a mix
 - gather a pile of cobbles
 - get on your knees
 - pick up a stone
 - place a stone (not allowed to put any back)
 - pick up a stone....
 - ......
- make a mix
Almost therapeutic, and a rather pleasant job...particularly the finished effect, which is stunning (in my opinion)

I was accompanied during this work by a very busy Jenny Wren, who was back and forth feeding her chicks in the ceiling above me...she became rather brazen, and was buzzing over my head every couple of minutes...completely oblivious of me !!!

Through Friday and Saturday I managed about 10-12 mixes, and finished about 3 quarters of the floor, until I ran out of cobbles (and only half a bag of NHL5 left)

The old channel that carried the stream out of the  basement ,would have lost its cobbles many years ago, so we knew that we would be short...however underneath the cement slab outside the back door, is also cobbled, so they will have to be sacrificed to finish the basement.

Meanwhile (between mixes), I started digging out a soakaway. The downpipe from the front roof has been channeling rainwater away from the house, using old plastic guttering for ages, and I've been intending to bury it for a while...
So I dug a metre deep, metre wide, hole away about 10 meteres away from the house.
On Sunday I lined it with an old jumbo sand bag, filled it with rubble, and dug the trench to the downpipe. Layed in the pipe, covered the soakaway with old tarp and earth...hey presto...you wouldn't know it was there !!

Jan finished her retaining dry-stone wall around the front garden...which looks fabulous...like a proper garden now. Helped by the flush of new lawn which is growing very well.

To finish it off  I moved the cement mixer around the back of the  house, and tidied up the front so it doesnt look like a building site now !!!

slow progress in the basement...

This weekend, I took the Friday off work, and went down to take delivery of more sand to continue with laying the cobbles into the basement floor.
Unfortunately the delivery truck arrived with 3 tonnes of fine sand instead of the course sand that I ordered, so back it went and another weeks delay before I can get on...frustrating !!!

So I finished the new outside door to the cellar, and fitted it on the Saturday.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday morning, I worked on the frame for the trap-door that will provide internal access to the basement from what will be Library...

Jan finished limewashing the attic room, so that we could start moving up temporarily. I am finally going to sand and seal the floorboards on the first floor.
Top floor looks lovely...

Saturday was wet, but Sunday was lovely and warm and sunny, so as soon as the grass had dried enough...we spent the rest of the day cutting grass ...as usual

Did I say frustrating?!?!....still acheived a lot though!!!

Back to the Basement

After finishing the Inglenook rear wall and window (Janice's painting jobs aside), I've spent the last few weekends working in the basement.

The main beam has been repaired with a scarf jointed new end piece, and a new oak post to support it, set on a thick slate plinth, to keep it off the damp floor.

I finished lime rendering the walls last weekend(it took a while, with lots of dubbing in big holes) , so this weekend I started re-laying the cobbled floor.
They are layed into NHL5 to give some waterproofing(but still with breath-ability). It's going to take a while (I think I did about a 6th of the area this weekend), but a rather enjoyable and a (somewhat) theraputic process.
I hope you will agree, a really lovely look.

Jan has been continuing to build her dry stone wall around our first garden border, and the new lawn...plenty of photos when it is completed in a few weeks .

Brambles 0 - Davies 3 - They think its all over !!

A long weekend (I took Friday and Monday off), so that I could acheive a few objectives:

1. Finish panelling the rear window
2. Add another coat of rough lime render to the rear window wall
3. Take delivery of all the Oak for the Cellar, from Meriron(Coed Cadog)
4. Depending on weather finish the new lawn area, seeding etc
5. Clear some Brambles :)

Friday afternoon...#1 is complete

The Jali board hides an external air vent pipe exiting under the sill.

When Jan arrived on saturday she filled and prepped ready for sanding and painting next weekend.

#2  completed Saturday morning,...on last coat of fine lime render next week and its done,  (or ready for limewashing)

#3 - Meirion delivered the Oak, which they will start work on next week :)

• A 9inch x 9 inch piece to repair the end of the main beam, and the requisite post underneath it
• A 4inch x48inch x 12inch deep lintel to repair the rotten one over the basement window
• 28 4inch x 4inch - 8ft joists. to lay the new floor , once the beam is reaired

#4 - Jan and I spent most of Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning preparing the lawn area, layed in the seed, and put in some protection from the birds
(I reckon its the biggest bird feeder around!!!!)

At some point, Jan will put her dry-stone-walling skills to work, and put in a small retaining wall to replace the breeze blocks ....theres plenty of stone !!!!!!!

#5 - Jan left Sunday afternoon, and as the weather was nice...I took on the Brambles !!!!
The top of the orchard has almost completely disappeared under them ..so I took a start at that.
Too much for one weekend, but I made a good start !!

Wanting to do a job that I could actually finish, I then took on the brambles that have infested a large banking area.. ..cleared one half, and half the other side the rest of Sunday ...collapsed completely knackered at 6...was in bed by 9:30 !!!
Then cleared the rest of it Monday morning....did a little more minor clearing elsewhere...then headed home.

Please note the size of the bramble pile !!!!!!!

Meanwhile here a few shots of the new pathway we made across the new lawn out into the Orchard, very pleased with this.

 

Called into a new(newly discovered) cafe/deli/shop in Llanarne, that was declared one the top 40 places to eat in the UK, in the Guardian recently.
Wrights Food Emporium is a fabuloius place...even though I turned up in my work clothes, smelling rather rank, they were really friendly. I ordered a beef and horseradish sandwhich and coffee...both were fabulous (ate in the car..didnt want to scare the othercustomers)

We will definately call in again !!!

sunny spring weekend - busy in the orchard

The last few weekends have been glorious. We had clear blue skies all day this Saturday, although it still gets very chilly in the evenings. The orchard is starting to come alive, with the first flowers on the pear trees, and some of the apple blossom  just coming out.
We've been working on the front garden of the house, flattening out a shrub/weed filled area ,and then this weekend we moved the huge sandstane slabs that have previously formed a small patio. They are now a path straight out from the house through the gap in the hedge into the orchard. The slabs are extremely heavy (too heavy to lift), so we employed the ancient egyptian method of rolling them along over old bits of drainage pipes. They are layed flush into the newly flattened ground, so that they can be mowed over, when the grass grows......hard work, but looks great.

Sorry...forgot to take photos, so will take some next time.


Roy came down with us for his first visit for a few years, so lovely to see him wandering around the orchard...couldnt stop him!! He also took out a few of the early sprouting Raspberry bushes...so he can bring them on.

Meanwhile, I have been continuing to work on the new rear window.. with the frame in place, i've started adding the panelling (in the same style as panelled wall in the same room).

Also started putting the first coat of (rough) lime on the wall...lots of dubbing in around the window...should be finished in another week or 2. When its whitewashed it will make the room much lighter.

It will be nice when its finished !!!

The first cut in the orchard this weekend... Utilising two lawm-mowers, and clearing some early bramble as we went...Jan and I managed to cut about 2thirds of the orchard...basically all of the lower area..
The upper part of the orchard has been taken over by bramble, so that will be a major project ...at some point !!! .
We were exhasted afterwards...but worth it...its a lovely time of year.

Rear Window fitted

A very windy weekend...but thankfully the spring has brought less chilly weather. Its still cold at night, but at least the days are bearable.

Last weekend I fitted the new Slate window-sill, and so this weekend was finally able to set-in the new window....looks great, all we could have wished for. The huge hole that remained around it needed filling, which took a while, and I had to revert to expandy-foam around some areas....apologies to all renovation purists...but it works a treat !!

As you can see the reveal is a mess(unlike the beatiful reveals on the front windows), which makes us think it wasnt originally a window hole. So much so that we've decided not to try and repair it, but to hide it behind some panelling.....which I will be startng next week.

Meanwhile Jan completed the second course of fine-lime in the lower hallway ..looks lovely. First limewash next week hopefully :)

 This time of year our attention is drawn outside to the orchard and Garden. not quite time for the first (of many) grass cutting marathons, but warm(despite the howling gale) enough to start work on the fornt garden. Jan cut down the ever growing front hedge, while I leveled out the front area, digging out the resident weeds, trees, wild roses, and resident brambles. It makes the front of the house far more open, and a place to start a proper garden planting area.

Oh ...not before we have another bonfire of the debris collected....always love a bonfire :)

new rear window....almost!

I know that i have been very lax and not posted for a while!.
We haven't been down to the cottage for a few weekends (family committments), and prior to that it was so cold we didnt get very much done except light the fires and try to drive out the damp as much as we could...We have decided that this is the last winter we will put up with being so cold...new heating will be budgeted before next winter!!

So now that the weather has started to get better, I went down this weekend to start the instalation of the new rear window. Made by our wonderful carpenter Neil, to our own design...it is just perfect.
The current window is a crappy old metal window and very small, not letting much light in. It also overlooks the drive, so is a good source of security and light. We decided to make the hole larger and install a bigger window. We also wanted it to match the front sash windows(in style if not exact design) so asked Neil to make a 6+3 sash window.

Perfect !!!......Now just have to make it fit !!!

So yesterday I did this..

As you can see...Morgan(the choccy lab)...accompanied me this weekend...he loves exploring the smells of rabbits, mice and deer in the orchard, and laying by the fire in the evening...he was rather confused by the huge hole in the wall though !

I will be ordering the slate sill from Merion (Coed Cadog in Llangadog)....and at the same time get the oak for the basement (6foot post to support the beam repair, and new oak joists).

Then we can crack on and start making real progress during the spring  :)