On the renovation side we had a very positive meeting with our building consultant today to go through all the work that needs doing and the changes we want to make.
Poor Freya and Ronny all worn out! Apart from when she was ill, Freya has slept through the night every night since we moved here thanks to all that fresh air and exercise.
On the renovation side we had a very positive meeting with our building consultant today to go through all the work that needs doing and the changes we want to make.
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With my parents down for the week, I have finally got around to taking a forage sample for testing. This is a fairly drawn out process involving taking samples of grass from all around the fields, drying them out by the fire (in the absence of a low heat oven) and then posting them off. This should mean I can now tailor the horses mineral supplement to give them exactly what they are missing from the grass and hay, so I am now eagerly awaiting the results. Since we're on limestone I'm hopeful I will need to give them less. Of course in the long term it might even be possible to apply any low minerals to the fields themselves to reduce the supplements even more, but that's definately a future plan (and will require a fully working tractor).
We've now set up and plumbed in the utility room in essentially its final layout, with the washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer and a sink. It's only temporary, with the top of the old formica table as a makeshift worktop, but having these four things will make a huge difference to our day to day life.
Brian is currently working on removing all the render and exposing the underlying walls. Its fascinating seeing how they have obviously been changed over the years, with the better quality stonework definitely being the older, original work! In one place, you can clearly see that the doorway has been moved to the right. Many of the stone walls have a concrete top to consolidate the stonework and make up the height.
One of the first things I said the day we arrived was "this gate is going to have to go" and it is now gone (well its in the shed). The original gateway to the property was clearly designed for horse and cart rather than car and was a definite hazard to wing mirrors (at least when I was the one reversing). On a more practical note, delivery lorries couldn't get in. So widening the gateway (by over 3ft), knocking down the huge concrete gate posts and putting in a new gate became a high priority on our "things to do when you can't stand to do anymore thatch" list. We also had to top the side walls to make them dog proof, so we decided we may as well tidy up the whole thing. I finished painting the wall yesterday.
Brian took down the last bit of the thatch this afternoon, we considered holding a small ceremony or something but were too exhausted. The necessity of removing all the thatch has been a constant burden and a barrier to progress on many of the crucial jobs on the house. I think its fair to say its also the least pleasant job either of us have done, its difficult to describe the dust and the smell if you haven't experienced it. Brian has been the one getting it down (I just help with getting it out and disposing of it) so he's had the worst of it, its a good job he isn't either claustrophobic or acrophobic. Its been impossible to do it continously (I think we'd have gone mad, or given up and left, plus Brian would have probably had a physical collapse of some kind) so it has probably only taken a couple of weeks of actually working on it. We can now see exactly what we have and start to firm up our plans for the house. Since the thatch was a metre thick we have a lot of extra space now its gone. To give you an idea of just how much was involved, below is the straw (separated into two heaps with the "good" top layer behind and the horrible dust layer in front) and the turf from above the small bedroom, about a tenth of the total we removed. In other news, Brian had his first look at the tractor the other day. The engine appears to be in surprisingly good condition and all the hydraulics and stuff at the back work, but as to the rest - there is quite a lot to do! Most noticeably all the leaking seals spurting out diesel and the total lack of functioning brakes. He took the cab off, so it is starting to look a bit more like it should.
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Laura Nash and Brian Brett's blog about our move to Ireland. Archives
December 2020
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