This week we started to prime the top floor of the farmhouse. The plasterers finished at the end of last week and we’ve been allowing the plaster to dry out since then. We’d originally planned to get the primer and first coat of paint on by the weekend, but we’ve been caught out by the amount of sanding and filling we’ve had to do around the edges – in particular on the older walls that haven’t been plastered and around the edges of the beams and the skirting board. The walls are not flat by any stretch of the imagination, and so the new wood panels (be that beam or skirting) don’t sit flush and we have significant gaps to fill. In some cases we’ve used Polyfilla before priming; in others we’ll use caulk afterwards – we just hope we can make a nice smooth edge. Despite this we’ve managed to get the primer on in one room, and in the other we’ve edged the whole thing but just rolled one half. Having only ever used a PVA-water mix on new plaster in the past, it’s incredible to see just how quickly the primer is absorbed – if we’re too slow in spreading it then it leaves ridges that need to be sanded down later. It’s far more time-consuming than we’d expected – but with the electrician and carpet fitter booked for next week, we need to get as much done before then as possible – at least in the bedrooms.
After several months of thinking about the lighting we want throughout the buildings, having the electrician booked for the farmhouse second fix spurred us into ordering the lights for the farmhouse bedrooms at least. We’re continuing with the industrial feel we have throughout the house – we’d fully intended on buying the landing lights too but there’s only so much time you can spend looking at lighting before you get fed up! One to save for Monday evening…
The other big excitement this week was on Friday when the scaffolding around the farmhouse and the front of the shippon came down. It was fabulous when it went up as we had different views across the valley, but having to squeeze past it every morning and having it blocking the windows meant it quickly lost any appeal. The space around the back of the farmhouse looks so much bigger now – especially as we’ve cleared a lot of the flowers that had been growing through the gravel to create access around the scaffolding. It’s made us think about how we can make better use of that outside area – currently the only paved space the farmhouse has is under the terrace which is pretty dingy due to the plants that grow up around it and the silver wood and concrete walls. We had planned to replace the gravel with a brick path (the gravel continually gets stuck to our boots and into the house) but now we’re thinking of turning half of it into a patio with a shorter brick path, and then brightening the terrace by painting and staining the walls and wood. If we can make that space a more attractive area for our farmhouse guests, it would give them a bit more privacy from any other guests staying in the other cottages (once we finish building them, that is!)
The scaffolding coming off also means we have guttering back on the farmhouse – which means no more waterfalls in front of the windows each time it rains! We did spot a soffit that hasn’t been painted though, so that’s another job added to John’s to-do list – especially now he’s made such a good job of the fascia boards.
Our roofers came back to finish the shippon roof, however the tiles they’d brought for us to clean are so dirty we just can’t make them look anywhere near as bright as our existing ones, so we’ve given up on this. They’ve done as much as they possibly can – including adding the ridge tiles – but have had to leave one side of the extension roof while they get some new ones. The rest of the roof now looks so bright, it’s much better than it was. We’re trying to find time to go across the valley to see how it looks from a distance and whether it’s more visible now.
More progress in the shippon – the first layer of insulation has mostly been completed in our side of the building and the builders have pointed one of the inside stone walls. We’re keeping two sections of stone wall as feature walls in our kitchen and lounge – it’s a shame that one of them will be partially covered by kitchen cupboards but we don’t have much space in our kitchen otherwise. After plenty of indecision about the kitchen, we’ve finally taken the plunge and ordered it! (well the cupboards anyway, we’re going to have to get the work surface measured and made bespoke because the walls aren’t at a right angle.
Outside – we finished spraying the moth nematodes in the orchard. We’ve done this for three years now, after the plums and apples from our first harvest were infested with codling moth and plum moth larvae and were mostly unusable. Each year the fruit is getting better, although we’ve not managed to clear them completely (they apparently travel from neighbouring orchards which we know are also infested) and will likely need to do this every year. It’s a horrible task as it needs to be done every week for 3 weeks in the evenings, at the point of the year when the nights draw in quite quickly. You end up finishing the job in the dark, when it’s much harder to avoid the spray falling back on you and getting covered in the tiny roundworms in the water. It’ll be nice though to get to a point when we can give spare fruit away without worrying about giving people bugs as well!
We’ve also been getting winter ready as our log delivery arrived this week. It took a good few hours to cart it all up from the courtyard round to the back of the farmhouse and then stack it up securely, especially as we only have 2 sides to balance it against. It’s been hard to make proper progress the last few weeks due to work commitments, so we’re going to make a concerted effort next week to finish a few things off!
Ley Farm Cottages 