A few days off – then it’s back to the job list! 

We managed to take a few days off over Christmas and spend time with family (the first time my parents have visited without being presented with a job list I think!!). Instead we took the opportunity to visit a couple of local places – the Christmas Lights display at Killerton (a National Trust house in Exeter); and then a somewhat wet and muddy walk around Otterhead Lakes (just 15 mins drive away). We definitely needed a nice fire to dry off beside when we got back – and even found a pole hidden in our chimney that’s perfect to hang coats to dry. How did we never know this was there before now?? 

No plans for the two bank holidays meant an opportunity to catch up with some of the jobs we’d deprioritised – mainly clearing moss and leaves. One of our barns (creatively nicknamed ‘the third barn’ and our future storage/laundry barn – more about that next week) is semi-derelict and doesn’t have a roof, so the floor quickly gets covered in moss. It took several trug-loads to clear it – dodging short downpours while raking and scraping it all off. 

We’d also noticed that the area we’ve been planting with bulbs (along the side of the wood) had started to come alive with goose grass (Sticky Willy) seedlings and wanted to clear them before they took over. We’d not managed to rake that area either as it’s quite difficult to get to – so it was pretty thick with leaves in places. So very carefully – we started to remove the leaves and weeds – and were very excited to see that the first bulbs have already started to grow! Hopefully the later ones will catch up soon, and the area will be nice and colourful!!