Now where have we got to…

Now where have we got to…

We’ve had a long, self-indulgent period where we were hardly ‘self’ building. The amazing Mike Roberts with his able Whiteway Carpenters  has been the real project manager (not me!) – every so often saying – ‘Time to order your insulation’ or ‘Better get the plumber in now’. He will still be coming in to help us with the ‘design and build’ – where he teaches us how to build something, then leaves us to get on with it. But Monday marked the end of an era.

What have we been up to since January? Nine applications to the EU  to let them know which plant enzymes I’m going to be using to coagulate my cheese. (yes, my truffle, porcini and morel cheeses could have been banned!). Thanks to a timely ‘heads up’ from the Specialist Cheesemakers Association.

9EUApplications

 

And getting ready to milk Tara Wright’s Closewool sheep in a few months. Tara needed the vet after a dog attacked one of her ewes. The ewe ended up with a broken leg and Tara wanted to know for sure the leg was mending well.

Tara cares so much about her sheep, she put the second ewe in there so the wounded girl has company. Sheep are very sociable!

TaraCaringForSheep

 

Hedge laying needs to be done before the 1st March:

hedgeLaying

 

I love watching skilled work – especially enjoyed when Chris Govier ensured that tree missed the telephone line!

Chris used to farm Easterdown.

 

hedgeLaying1

 

So beautiful! And we can see to Haddon Hill now:

hedgeTransformed

 

Nice visit from our amazing ex-landlady, Sarah. She has some great toys (she bought this when she sold her WW2 airplane. Of course! What else?):

 

sarahAndBetleyArrive

Her vintage MG looks great next to Easterdown!

 

sarahArrivesInFrontOfHouse

Love the seatbelt for Betley, her elegant carriage dog – named after an obscure Donizetti Opera:

passengerSeatBelt

Top down for her drive back to Spaxton:

sarahAndBetleyReversing

 

And Sarah got us onto our balcony for the first time since the scaffolding came down.

balconyFirst

 

Goodness, the months fly! A solar eclipse on the day of the Vernal Equinox. Mike and I couldn’t agree whether we could use our polarising lens from the telescope to view it. To settle the argument, Mike made an eclipse viewer out of a  shoebox, with 15 minutes to spare!

mikeKingOfPin

 

9-34AM-GMT

 

Inspired us to get out the telescope, FINALLY! Shocking it has taken us this long. Dark skies here on Exmoor meant we had the best view of the stripes on Jupiter we’ve EVER seen.

deepSpaceGun

 

Last big push from Whiteway Carpenters for now – the frames for the glass in our loft – this is the loft view:

loftGlassFromLoft

This is from the first floor study. This is facing North and the balcony is to the South.

loftGlassFromStudy

Mike wanted me to include this photo – it’s what we see each morning when we open our eyes. Yes, that is Dexter walking around in front of our bed:

viewInTheMorning

And a big moment here: Mike Roberts opening the way to the main house front door. Kind of like cutting a ribbon – Before:

joiningUp1

And After:

joiningUp2

Mike Roberts worked with us and coached how to lay the damp proofing membrane and insulation on the ground floor. Getting ready for underfloor heating, boiler/cookers, etc coming mid April.

It’s down to us now.

groundFloorGoingUp

 

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