Our snowdrop bank and other such Spring preparations

Sunny weather meant a chance to get outside and start to clear through the outdoor jobs, which have been piling up. It’s a great way to take our minds off the fact that we’re yet to get a decision on planning, but that it’s not looking great for our plans for extending the shippon into two properties, which is frustrating given that our intention is to use the money we make from renting out the cottages to restore our Elizabethan cottage at the back of the site as quickly as possible. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the Planning department recognise this and accept our plans – the Elizabethan cottage has been left in a fairly sorry state and some of the original murals on the walls appear to have been lost over time – and we want to try and start work in the next 5 years before anything else gets damaged. 

It’s also been a fairly nice mix of general maintenance and restoration – the grass looks so much better shorter, even if it does show off the scale of the moss and weed problem we have to deal with in a few weeks’ time. And after a few major bramble and ivy fights (which I think I won, but I’m not quite sure!!) the bank along the driveway to the main farmhouse is looking much clearer – we even found what our neighbour thinks is a lilac tree, still alive despite being covered with ivy. We think it used to be an old wall, now built up with soil and left to go a bit wild (if you dig back far enough, you can see the stones). It’s the perfect place for a snowdrop bank – a mass of colour throughout the late winter/early spring to welcome guests. We planted the first 100 bulbs this weekend, soon to be followed by another 75 snowdrops and bluebells due to arrive imminently (100 bulbs have just got lost in the space!!). It definitely promises to be more than it looks right now! 

We’ve managed to make a bit more progress inside – another coat of paint on the doors means they’re nearly done (subject to the odd touching up and one disaster that needs to be sanded back thanks to the drippy non-drip paint!!) and more paint off the beams in the bathroom. We’ve set ourselves deadlines to do everything we can do without planning permission in the farmhouse before  lockdown ends, so it’s going to be a busy few months!