This seems to have been a very long week! It seems like ages ago (but was only Tuesday) that we had a pre-Christmas day off to catch up on various things that needed doing around the house – and then of course we had Christmas and all the preparation that goes with it.
We made better progress than anticipated on Tuesday. It was better weather than we’d expected, so we spent the morning tidying up in the orchard and preparing the location where we’re moving our compost bins to. At the moment they’re at the very bottom of the site, next to where our extension will be on the shippon and in our to-be back garden – not really the sort of thing you want to see when you open your patio doors! They’re also in the way of the build, so we’re moving them to the top of the orchard, under the pine trees where nothing grows anyway. We’re very lucky to be getting a fourth compost bin for Christmas from my parents – seeing as though the three we have are completely full, it’ll make it much easier to move all the contents into a new empty one and turning it at the same time (still not a nice job though, moving half-rotted fruit and grass and everything else in there).
We had excitement in the afternoon as we went to look at windows (yes we never thought we’d say that either!). When you’re spending a small fortune on something though, it’s good to see it beforehand and know what you’re getting. And while it wasn’t a big showroom, it’s reassuring to speak to the person who you’re buying from, and check they know what you want. It’s also a good prompt for us to talk through each item together and make sure we’re both agreed on what we want, and that we’re keeping true to the vision we had when we first bought the property.
Annoyingly, it looks like our build start date will be delayed again – we’re now aiming for February. Every month that goes by means another month of not earning income from the properties – given we’re relying on this to fund the later parts of the build, it’s pretty important we start soon! Once everyone is back after the Christmas break, all our focus will be on keeping to that date, and getting everything lined up, orders for materials in etc.
We had Christmas here just the three of us – it’s strange to think that if everything goes to plan, it’ll be our last Christmas in the farmhouse, and that someone else will be here enjoying the house. We had a ‘no-job’ rule for the day so instead we went for a long walk around the hills, and popped into our local pub for a couple of drinks – it was so busy! We’re so lucky to live here – with amazing walks right from the door, and a lovely pub just a mile down the road. We can’t wait for people to be able to stay and enjoy it as much as we do.
Ley Farm Cottages 