Den building at half term

Eartha, Bram and Violette found a nice clearing in the woodland and built a den to beat all dens!

Good work all of you and great teamwork!  Please note the brick wall at the back! Looking for something more substantial for the roof.....just waiting for inspiration!  Next stage - a woodland garden.  Anyone any bright ideas for total shade loving plants?

Roadworks begin

At last Heath Lane is being resurfaced.  Our bill at the garage for worn tyres will decrease substantially with luck!!

At

The gate must move!!

The County Council have asked us to move the gate from Heath Lane round the corner...so this is how it's done!

Great news!

 

At last our road is going to be "recycled"......The County Council have pledged to make this into a proper road in July!!!  Yes, this July!........we are SO pleased.....watch this space......

Three months gone!

What happened to the last three months?  I can't believe I haven't posted anything in all that time!  Anyway, here we go......

Master Bathroom

The bathroom is coming along nicely.  There is now a walk in cupboard in the corner by the loo.  I think we will have to have a few plants and perhaps an easy chair to soften it.

The little lights in front of the bath are now fitted and come on when you walk into the room.  Lovely lighting in here altogether thanks to Paul Wilson and his team - namely John and Dave....

A road in good repair??

We are asking Lincolnshire County Council to repair the road that they have now deemed to be a Byway Open to All Traffic and all we have got from them so far is that the road is in good repair!!!! What?!

Lovely doors

Really nice doors throughout....there are only 6 doors inside the house and that includes en suites to all three bedrooms.  We are doorless from the bedroom behind the dining room right through to the bedroom with the view.  Really pleased with these.  Tony has fitted them all plus one more on a cupboard n the master bedroom.

Out with the old and in with the new

We were actually beginning to get quite fond of the basic steps we bought about 3 years ago!  But now - Allenby's have made this beautiful staircase - Ian has been here for about 6 weeks and is nearly there now....A real work of art

Still calling it a snug!

 

Please someone come up with a word to call the room beyond the kitchen which is going to be a purely selfish area for just Gordy and I to relax in...The walls will be lined with books and we have just bought two incredible chairs - enormous "lose yourself in them" armchairs... Just can't bear the word snug - HELP!  I think that's what it's going to become if we are not very careful.

Getting there!

 

We still have electricians, a joiner, Allenbys who are making the stairs and good old Bob and Liam sorting out wonky guttering and pointing the south side of the building.  Bob turned up on Saturday to build the framework for a walk in cupboard in the master bathroom....The security system is now up and running - far too technical for me but I have an instruction book so will do some homework soon!  We now have a secure roof structure in the garage (and some light!) and the heating system is amazing....

Here comes the moon!

Amy, Eartha and Fellow visit

 Three lovely days with Amy, Eartha and Fellow.  The snow stayed until new years day.

Still carrying all the shopping up the hill!  No chance of getting the car up!
 Can you spot the moon above the trees?

Thanks for that Eartha!! 

 

Fellow is not impressed by the handstanding snowman!  He would rather go for a walk!

Denby finds a pheasant and a snowman

John and Margaret (and Denby too of course) were our first proper visitors.  They came for Sunday lunch and then John, Denby and I went for a walk and Denby did very well.... a pheasant and a snowman!

 

And then the snow came!

We came home from a wonderful Christmas with Amy at The Willows in Norwich to find we had had snow here in Carlton...so the car parking was a great idea and just in time!  We had to leave the car down at the bottom of the hill for 6 days! 

Post box and bin area

We really felt it was unfair to ask the postman and the bin men to come to the top of the hill and so Dick, Jack and Harry have created a new area just above The Manor for us to put the post box and bins.  Adrian has taken his cattle out now for the winter and so we took this opportunity to make this area which also includes a parking space for those days that may be snowy and we may need to leave our car there....

Another beautiful sunset

Builders galore

 

Having had weeks of just Bob and Liam, suddenly everyone turned up!.  Plumber, Sensetec security, electrician, builders, joiner!!  A houseful for three or four days....

Out with the old and in with the new!

Having lived here without any heating for over 5 weeks, the problem was discovered and meant us purchasing a new heat pump....crazy!  But, at last we have the underfloor heating working and we are cozy warm..

December update

Well, December is here and we have Carre Heritage working for us to finish off this (what now seems) interminable project!!  There is pointing to do on the south facing wall, garage doors and welly washing door to fit, landscaping to the north which will probably have to wait until March or April.  Security system is three quarters done now but no one seems to have any idea on garden lighting......all the electric cables are there but no one has come up with any idea as to how to control the eventual fittings from the house!!  

Jobs to be done inside include internal doors, skirting boards, moving a lot of the electric plugs to sensible, workable positions, plumbing in of washing machine and tumble dryer which have been here for over a month now!  Then there is storage to think about - nowhere to put anything at the moment!  

The heating system is working now - after the purchase of a brand new heat pump.  No radiators working upstairs yet but the heat from downstairs is rising to make it comfortable.

The stairs are partly in!!  Sort of there but not usable....so we are still using the builders staircase that we bought at the beginning of the project...  Two woodburners are in and functioning which is lovely.

I would love to be at the "let's pick curtains and carpets" stage but we are months off this I fear.

Although there seemed little to do it all seems to be taking an awful lot of co-ordinating and an awfully long time to complete.

Hey Ho.  2015 approaches and I can only think we will be builder-free at some stage this year!!!!