Planning approval #4 and more progress on site

It’s not often we have a week where so much happens! Despite it starting pretty badly, things steadily improved to the point that there’s so much to cover we don’t know where to start… 

First things first – progress with our build plans. Our architect kicked some butt this week and managed to get us our fourth planning approval! This one took five months and is for solar tiles, air source heat pumps and EV chargers – something we thought would be encouraged and swift to approve, but we’re gradually learning that nothing is quick when it comes to listed buildings!! We’ve had to opt for solar tiles instead of solar PV, which are more expensive and slightly less efficient but look more natural; and our EV chargers and heat pumps will need to be discrete and blend in with the surroundings (or be hidden away out of sight). However we’re just pleased we got the application through, especially as it’s much easier to install the technology from the outset instead of retrospectively. 

Our ecologist also came round on Tuesday to bat-proof the shippon. Apparently bats that hang upside-down are impossible to move during hibernation because of the way they grip to whatever they’re clinging to (which includes horseshoe bats which we have), so if any decide to hibernate in our barns, we have to stop building until they move again in May! Not ideal… and especially hard when we have a building that’s missing windows and is open at one end. Hopefully the nets our ecologist put up will keep them out – although we spent Saturday repeatedly weighing them down with increasingly-heavier stones and bricks after wind blew them down, so fingers crossed everything stays in place.

We also had first sight of our high-level build programme – which is still exciting even though it needs some changes. We’d originally been aiming for a September start date, which then pushed back to October because of the planning situation (we still have one critical application left); and is now looking to be late November/early December depending on the council’s final decision. It does give us a bit more time to get the site ready, which is good as everything is taking much longer than we expected!! However, having lived through a neighbour demolishing and rebuilding the terraced house next door to us in London, the important thing for us is to understand when the most disruptive work will be taking place so we can warn our neighbours in plenty of time. It’s not much fun when you literally can’t hear yourself talk because of the noise, and certainly not for pets who just don’t understand what’s going on. Hopefully our neighbours are far away enough so it’s not that bad, but just in case… 

We made good progress on Saturday clearing the front of the shippon of ivy, brambles and bushes, managing probably another quarter of the building. It’s incredible just how overgrown it all is – and we haven’t even got to the rampant jasmine yet, which is covering the entire roof at the end. We’ll need to properly chop back the bushes at some point to make space for the scaffolding, but we’ll leave that as late as possible, to give the bushes the best chance of growing back.  

The lawns around the house are looking much better since John scarified and reseeded them after the heatwave. Patches of them (particularly around the bird feeders) were looking so dismal, but after three weeks of watering to allow the seed to set, they’re looking lush and green – well worth all the effort. We’d hoped to have done the final cut of the year, but after a spell of very warm weather and now a wet forecast for a few days, possibly not! 

Our final success this week has been to finish using up our crabapples and culinary pears. We always struggle to keep on top of our harvest with everything else going on, but each year we manage to use more and lose less. This year our plum and damson crop has been almost non-existent which helped, although our main pear tree has been a heavy cropper this year, and they don’t last as long as the stoned fruit. We’ve also sourced a lot of new recipes over the year to find new ways to use fruit up – not just jamming, chutneying or jellying everything! We still have a few dessert pears left, but now it’s mainly quince and apples, and hopefully a medlar crop ready in a month or so’s time… After that our evenings become ours again!