A three-day weekend means an extra day to work through our to-do list – and a more rewarding feeling at the end of Monday evening. We’ve made good progress with the Cow Shed (our one-bed cottage) this week – on the decorating front we’ve painted the bedroom, primed and painted most of the ensuite (just the second ceiling coat left), painted the first coat on our gable wall, and repainted the beams where they were scratched during the latest phase. We still have some touching up to do where different colours meet – it’s a difficult job as the corners aren’t particularly straight so whichever way you look at them, it looks like the paint is uneven.
We’re really pleased with our final choice of colours – in the bedroom we’ve chosen a two-tone design that creates a slight separation between the part of the room where the bed will be and the ‘entrance’ with the ensuite door. And in the living area we’ve painted the stone-topped gable end a pale green to offset the creamy yellow walls.
We popped into the flooring shop on Wednesday morning before our same day changeover and picked up some samples of karndean (for the living area) and carpet (for the bedroom). The company were quite happy us taking their big books of samples home with us as long as we returned them within a few days. It made such a difference being able to put the different colours against the walls in the property as the light really does change the different tones. We’ve matched the karndean flooring with the colour of the original wooden beams to avoid having too many wood shades in the room.
And our builders and tradespeople are gradually coming back! Tim was first – building the hearth for the woodburner using some flints we found piled in a corner when we moved in, and starting work on the gable wall to fill in gaps where the stones have fallen out over the years. It’s suddenly picking up pace…
We spent part of the weekend in the garden to try and catch up (we’re so far behind where we should be). John topped up the potato bed again – the combination of sunny days and the occasional shower means the plants have been growing fast. And he’s spent more time weeding – starting with our soil bank (which is an area we pile all the soil from the plant pots and potato bed until we need to fill them) and then our pea and bean bed which has been overtaken by bindweed and other weeds.
I spent the day on Monday getting out all our plant pots from the shed and filling them with dahlias and various other flowers we’ve grown or have been given. Once they start growing we’ll move them around the courtyard and the Farmhouse for our guests to enjoy – they need a bit too much watering to start with though so we’re keeping them in one place for now. We’ve still got a few more dahlias to plant out when we can find the space and time!
We also made time for one of our favourite walks around Yarcombe – going up to the village and through various woodland to see carpets of bluebells. The walk climbs to the top of the valley so you get incredible views of the fields on the other side – on a clear day you can see out to the coast. As John often says – you need to take time to smell the roses…
Ley Farm Cottages 