The last few weeks - in pictures

 We had snow early this year, we got a lot more after this photo was taken.

 

 Here are lots of  young reindeer (above) and adult (below) getting ready to help Santa !

 

He is very proud of his antlers...

 Carlos the alpaca enjoying the snow, with Pedro just peeping out of the doorway.

And finally Christmas, the first Christmas in our new house.  Still waiting for the woodburner to complete the fireplace - maybe next year!

Getting there...

Over the weekend it was decided that if we didn't get the house painted outside then we would probably not be able to do it before the winter.... and the thought of another 6 months of the outside looking shabby was enough.

I didn't do any painting though I did seem to spend a lot of time holding the ladder.....





The chickens had the run of the entire back garden (though not my vegetable garden..) and they loved it, especially when they discovered the bird seed I had previously scattered around the bird table.


I had a good clear out of plants in the garden, the courgettes and outdoor tomatoes are finished and so my compost bins are full.  I've picked the first sprouts though they really need a frost.  And I dug up the last of the potatoes, leaving some which had already sprouted.  Hopefully I will get another flush of potatoes during the winter.

The front of the house has now been stoned and we need to choose a "feature tree" to go in the remaining grass area.  I have my eye on a couple, just need to decide.  My favourite at the moment is the Cornus Contoversa Variegata.  Think one would look just right and give a good colour contrast with the existing laurel hedges.

It also needs a few pots full of plants to soften the area, its like a huge car park at the moment!  And poor Michael has trouble getting his moped through the stones - they will flatten in time.

Getting there, slowly!

Its been nearly three weeks since we moved in and slowly, very very slowly we are getting sorted out.  We still have a garage full of boxes (no idea whats in most of them), though I am still missing quite a few of my books.

I love the new kitchen/diner
- its my favourite room of the house. 


We let the cats out at the weekend after keeping them indoors to get settled.  They seem to love having the huge garden to explore.

Mitsy loves the long grass in the vegetable garden, and spends a lot of time chasing insects.

And I discovered a marrow which had been hidden under the foliage - 9lb 4oz, thats one hell of a marrow!

finally living in the house - but will we ever get sorted???

Its been a week now since we moved into the new house.  There is still much to be done, painting of the walls downstairs, tiling, kitchen cupboard doors etc, but we don't care, its fine.

Amazing how having to move clothes from one house to another can make you think again about how much "stuff" you have!  I am a hoarder, always have been, and it applied to clothing too.   Well not anymore, half of it has gone to the charity shop, and I have room in the wardrobe!

The cats are still being kept indoors, not that they seem to mind.  They have already found the best places to sleep and sunbathe, so they seem happy.   And the chickens now have the run of the whole orchard and are laying as well as ever.  They love the windfall apples.... and plums.

The bedrooms are finished now, so here is a before and after of the main room.  I will take more photos as the house is actually finished.

In the meantime its handy not having doors on the kitchen cupboards, as at least I can learn where I have put everything!  And I love my new fridge.  I was worried when I found out I needed an "under the counter" small fridge, but this one is so well designed, with sliding drawers, it actually holds more than my tall larder fridge.

A week of painting.

We still hope to move over this coming weekend, but there is still so much painting left to do.

I've spent over 24 hours painting in the past 3 days, even my mum has been roped in to help.  As for Neil, I have no idea where he gets his energy from!

Two weeks to go.... (maybe....)

Another week, more progress!  As we are hoping to move in a couple of weeks, we need to keep going.

All the door and window architraves are on and now need painting.... (my job), plus Neil has been busy laying the tiles for the lounge fireplace, and has finished tiling the bathroom.

I've been painting my new fireplace feature which will house my range cooker and extractor.  Never painted anything so fiddly before!  3 undercoats and its now ready for the final "buttermilk" colour coat.

The kitchen cupboard doors are nearly finished, and once they are on, the kitchen will look much better.

We now have water in the kitchen (at last......) and the old utilty room has been ripped out.

Ok, I have to admit I didn't actually do the heavy work, just gave it a quick bash with the hammer and then left the hard work to Neil.

As I write this the plumber is connecting up the gas boiler, hopefully by tomorrow we may have hot water!  No more boiling the kettle to wash up!

Lots going on, no time to blog...

Work at the house is progressing fast.  The electrician is finished, plumber is due to put the boiler in today, should have water by the end of the day! The shower room is half tiled and the toilet and sink in.

Kitchen units are in, doors are being made and worktops on, though they will need lots of sanding and varnishing to finish them.

Doors have been hung, architrave is going on, which leaves a lot of painting to be done over the next few days.  The original front door needs sanding and repainting - I love the original 1930's glass.

We are getting there, slowly.

At last..... electric....

Last night when we got to the new house, the electrican Simon was still there.  He has been brilliant, always turning up on time and working to a high standard.  Suddenly I noticed that it was "light"..... we had electric at last..!

As we had no light bulbs at the house, only the spotlights in the kitchen and bathroom were on, but its real progress.   I am really looking forward to having a light kitchen.  Up till now I've always had a central light so have worked in a shadow all the time.  I'm getting into the 21st Century at last, just a decade late!

The kitchen units are being fixed into their final position, just need the doors made now, but I have shortlisted two colours of paint for the doors.

Its starting to look like a kitchen! At last.

At the weekend we started putting the new kitchen units together, and finally my new Rangemaster cooker could be moved into the kitchen.

Trouble is, its rather large, very heavy, and proved to be wider than the doorframe!

After taking off most of the packaging we finally got it into its new position.

I've always wanted a "range cooker", and can't wait to be able to use it once its all connected up.

The electrician comes back today to put in all the plug sockets and light switches, plumber comes next week to sort out the radiators and boiler, so we are getting there!

And finally, back in the spring when the weeping willow tree was given its brutal haircut, I was convinced it would never look good again, but I was proved wrong.  Its looking wonderful, and I can see that it would be a good idea to put a bench underneath the tree, an ideal spot for reading.

Bit of this and bit of that.....

Another busy week, work was hot.... but enjoyable as always.  I've learnt my lesson from last weekend though and keep covered up in the sun (and wear my silly straw hat at work).

I had thought that maybe I had planted too many sweetpeas (5 packets) but no, I've decided you can't have too many sweetpeas.  I'm picking a whole vase full daily, and still they come.

My peas are hanging heavy on the plants, they are so sweet to eat, and the potatoes are delicious. 

Work is progressing inside the house - the plasterers are finished and the walls are drying out and are ready to paint.  The kitchen floor tiles are going to be laid today, just got to decide where to start!

I've even found some time to do knitting this week, finishing a dishcloth for someone at work.  Its a beach umbrella, honest - pattern is from the July 2009 KAL I belong to on Yahoo.

Last night we went over to see the reindeer - Horace has a really impressive set of antlers this year, but trying to get him to lift his head away from grazing was impossible!

And finally, a picture of my Cordyline in my existing back garden.  It started off in a small pot in 2000, was planted into position in 2002 and has grown a lot...!  The scent from the flowers is amazing in the evenings, and it is great for attracting the bees.  I will be sad to leave it when we move.

We have paint...... and huge potato plants.....

Yesterday we started painting upstairs at the new house now that the plaster has had a chance to dry out.

It was horrible watered down paint as it was the first coat, splashed everywhere, but the rooms look far better even just with one coat of wishy washy white.

The plasterers are back working again this week, but they still have all of the downstairs, plus the landing and stairs, so there is a lot left to do.


I left the men to paint yesterday so that I could work outside in the garden for a while.  My early crop potatoes are just coming into flower, but they are so tall, they obviously like the soil.... They are waist height already.
My pumpkin plants have baby pumpkins on them and in flower, plus my cucumbers and tomatoes are all flowering now.

And finally - any early birthday present from my eldest, a Trug, something I have always wanted.... Peas and lettuce picked yesterday.  They laughed when I took the photo, "what a surprise, she is taking a photo of it". Cheek!

Fresh vegetables from the garden....

Tonight I've been over to the new house watering the garden and picking some lovely fresh vegetables.

I picked peas, pak choi and pulled the first of my carrots.  They are an unusual rainbow variety which produces carrots in colours from white, through yellow, pale orange through to dark orange.  There is a good mix of colours here.

Growing a variety of vegetables is still new to me as until now I've only grown tomatoes, beans and peppers due to lack of space.  Its amazing how you can lose a couple of hours just messing about in the garden.

The baby bunnies are still getting through even the tiniest holes (including through the slats of the gate) so tonight we are fighting back - with another layer of mesh, much finer this time.... hopefully it will work.  Why do rabbits ignore the tough outside leaves of the cabbages and just go the the developing hearts????

Vegetables, progress and Larry the lettuce!

I love my vegetable garden!  Every evening and Sunday afternoons I'm busy in the garden - I have no idea where time goes and there is always something to be done.  I spent ages last night pricking out lettuce, beetroot, peppers and some tiny chilli plants.

The greenhouse is looking good, everything is growing well, and I've now got my "Tumbling Tom" tomatoes in the hanging baskets.  My "flower" hanging baskets are growing well in the greenhouse and will soon be ready to go out.

I have a new mobile phone with a 5 megpixel camera on it so have been trying it out on close ups -  I love the colours of these Petunias.

The grass in the back garden doesn't actually have all that much "grass" in it, its mainly wild flowers.  I need to get a photo of these "Fox and Cubs" when they are out, the bright orange flowers are stunning.  They don't show up so much when they are closed, but if you click on the photo you will see how many there are!

Enough about my garden as I bore everyone to tears with it at the moment....

Neil has been busy in the house - he has been boarding out the bathroom and fitted the shower in to see what it would look like (high.... but we are a pretty tall family).

Lets just hope that one day my dining room will look neater than it does now!



Hopefully the plastering will be started at the beginning of June, then my bedroom will look better too.

The chicken shed has been put in the orchard (ok so at the moment it is a large tatty empty shell, but one day it will be a smart chicken abode).  A coat of paint, some perches, and some nest boxes and they will love it.  We need to put some fences up to divide the area up too.  There are so many weeds and wild flowers in the orchard so I think we would do better with pigs rather than chickens (tried that one, and no, I'm not allowed a pig....).

The lilac is in full flower now and looks stunning.  Our neighbours also have a lilac and a red robin, so the colour look great with the fresh green leaves on the apples and pears.

And finally....  what started off as just a pot of lettuce was transformed into "Larry the lettuce" by Michael.... big kid...