And this is the be before one!

-- Photos shared with Fish Bowl Photo. http://www.pixiereef.com

This is the after shot!

Carpentry skills put to test

Shed extension now all secure, new door for log store aspect made and hung. Also made two versions of gate for the wall...but which one should we have used? You decide

There's grass in the garden, but not as we know it

Another rain-free day so we tackled the area in front of the house.  Firstly it was raked and cleared of stones (well we tried to remove them but quite a few small ones will have slipped through), and then we had to level it. Cue a nice, simple method that resulted in much hilarity - and a certain amount of intrigue from the cows, who came to watch!

 Next we collected the grass cores from the golf club - the product of hollow coring, which usually goes to waste - and laid it on top of the soil.  The cores have a mixture of grass, soil and sand in them, so hopefully they will bed in during the winter before we seed in spring.

Job done!

The lads have gone, the rain has stopped (for now at least), and we can finally admire the shed extension. All this rain has exposed a design flaw - we need a door to the log store, hence the curtain in its place for now. It's still too cold and wet to paint the wood, that will probably happen in the spring just as the grass starts seeding.

You can never have too big a shed.

Shed extension coming on nicely, more room for stuff that we haven't used for 5 yrs in the middle section and another log store on the end!

Need more topsoil.

3 ton of topsoil from the hill, kindly donated by our friendly farmer, but the hard labour done by us.

Poor trailer has been working hard, helped immensely by the introduction of air into the tyres after the first mega load!

Latest on the landscaping.

 Fencing is done and a new drainage ditch to help disperse some of the water coming off the hill.

 Extra points if you can spot Ruby!

 Two loads of topsoil spread....back breaking stuff. Ruby in shot again, she was intrigued by what I was doing.

Expensive new scratch post for Ruby

Water, water everywhere...

Despite enduring a month's rainfall in 3 days (and double that amount in 10 days) work continues with the landscaping. Today saw the fence put up, it will be put to the test in a couple of weeks when the farmer moves the cows... 
Plus a bit of levelling round the back of the house.

Cheeky visitor

Two blurry photos of a cheeky fox exiting stage right at 0740hrs, I think the cats would rather have the rogue cat scaring them!

Landscaping begins in earnest.

Scraping the Type 2 old surface off in order to put it back to grass at the front, levelling the garden off and filling in all the holes made when the bull and all his girls got in!

Also preparing the roadside surface ready for the post and rail.

Is there anyone out there?

We are thinking about doing some more posts, if anyone is still interested enough?
This is a picture of a rogue cat that has been sneaking in to the house through the cat flap and terrorising our two.
But, no more as we have got a new cat flap, we had to scan our cats (like scanning your shopping at Tesco (other supermarkets are available) and now only our cats gain access through it!
We are about to start getting groundworks done, landscaping and fencing, so watch this space......

Logs,logs everywhere and not one ready to burn.

With all the storm damage last year there are plenty of limbs off fallen trees to acquire.
But the problem is storing them for 2 yrs while they mature.
I have discovered this unique way of stacking them in an independent stack so they don't have to be stacked against a wall or under the eaves of the shed, which would take up valuable space needed for logs that just need drying.
My first attempt was much smaller than this one and a bit ropey so I pulled it down and built this one today, it took nearly all day to build but there was a fair amount of log splitting and one collapse of part of the side wall too.
Should really be finishing off the wall........
We have a new gadget..... a night vision, movement activated camera and we have captured quite a few shots of nothing (probably mice) and quite a few shots of Ruby and Chobe but we got our first two proper wildlife shots over the last 2 nights.
The first one was a hedgehog (had it in video mode that night) and the second was last night and as you can see it was a series of shots of a our resident Roe deer.
We would love to get something a bit more exciting like a Pine marten so watch this space.

Where has the last 15 months gone?

Doesn't time fly?
You have to admit that the wall was worth waiting for.
Now I need to move on to the new wall we have started along the front of the property.

As you can see, I had a bit of help from Tom and Mavis to clean up the original wall as it was covered in moss and all overgrown.

The other picture of me digging wasn't set up as an action shot-but I put it in anway as I look quite thin in it.

Nice new car in the background don't you think?
.

After much blood, sweat and tears... oh and golf

Phase 1 of the wall is almost complete! It's only taken Sam 15 months to get to this stage, but she has played an awful lot of golf in the meantime!

Phase 2 has begun (we are both allowed to contribute to this part), with the first foundation stones having been laid. You might be able to spot a huge pile of stones behind Sam, we think it might be around 2 tons' worth. All shifted by hand from the pile of stones that was the old cottage (we did use the trailer to bring them up here). With about a ton of stone to each metre of wall it's not going to get us very far, but it's a start at least. Or it will be when I get back from my next stint in Bahrain!

We have also tidied up the front of the property, photos to follow when all the strimming and tidying up is completed.

On a wildlife note we were unfortunate that the owl did not return to the nest, but we did spot a juvenile golden eagle scanning the moor on a hunting mission, and there are definitely red squirrels in the area. The cats are loving it here, but the birds, mice and voles aren't so lucky.

Latest action.

Just to let you know that I have not been idle since moving in!

As you can see the dry stone wall is under way-it has taken me all day to dig the foundations, move all the stones up from the farmers field and lay a few of the foundation stones.

It is very satisfying work, but backbreaking.

The other photo is of our arrival (and departure as he fledged 3 days ago!) he/she actually let me walk right up to the base of the tree to get this photo. I have got some fantastic video of all the action and have spent hours looking out of the window(when I should have been chopping logs).

We also have our completion certificate! Wey hey, which means we can now claim the VAT back and never have to speak to the planning office ever again!

New look shed

Eventually managed to get the shed treated, it has either been below zero or raining since it was built.
I think the colour is lovely as it blends in with the surroundings much better than when it was that horrid orange shade.
Also managed to get the beech worktop oiled in the utility room today, the cats weren't interested when I was sanding it down, but as soon as I started to oil, they were jumping up - so I have oily paw prints on the floors now.
Ah well.....

Languishing in a winter wonderland

Picture postcard or what?
Nice to be in and settled, Sal came home on the 15th Dec and it has been covered in snow all that time.
We had our new settees delivered yesterday and was I glad to see the back of the old ones!!
We should have had the old TV on a cardboard box in the photo too!

The last post from Bahrain

Thought I would end with a picture of Sally and I visiting the Ahmed Al Fatah mosque,they have open days for non muslims to have a tour during the 'Eid' holiday. The women visitors have to don the abaya and scarf before entering and they have a changing room and a row of various sizes! If we had known this earlier we could have worn our own!!
I don't know when I will be updating this blog again so I hope you have enjoyed it, whoever you are.

More greetings from a hot country

The sun has gone in now so I thught I would do an update.
A few more pictures, one of our lovely solid wood washbasin stand made by Sally's dad and the stairs, now that they have been stained.
The colours in the rooms don't look good on the blog - so you will have to come and visit to see them.