Industrial Revolutions.....this is great!

Summertime shots

Mooooo!

Rudabekia

A seat with a view

Bizzie Lizzies

Window Boxes

south side of Warren Cottage

Autumn 2007

The colours in Autumn; brown and gold, just awesome!

October 2007 - Kevin Wharton - Fencing and Gates!

We wanted to mark the boundary of the plot and Kevin Wharton and his son came and put the fencing and gates up for us.  Great job! Thank you Kevin! A couple of big trees that were rotten and in the way of the fence line had to come down, they set to them with the chainsaw.  Really pleased with the result!

This dead tree has to come down, normally we'd leave it standing as it has a  lot to offer to birds and wildlife like this, but sadly it's got to go,  despite laying the fence along a tree line, this was the only tree that was felled

They look so lovely and gnarly when they're dead

We'll cut it up and pile the wood up so it will provide a habitat for wildlife at ground level

The stump shall remain in place and the fence will go around it, should be a good home to beetles and the like

Kevin!

Still planty of stump left for the insects to bore into

Double gate into main driveway

Double gate taken from inside the main driveway

Single gate on the south side of the house

Double gate shot taken from the Byway in the direction of Wainhill, shed is immediately to the right of the frame

Fencing alongside the Byway just before reaching Warren Cottage

October 07

It's now October 2007 and Warren Cottage is ready and we've moved in!  It's brilliant! We've got a kitchen,  a water supply that provides drinkable water from the tap straight away!  An electric shower means washing in the morning isn't a problem and a small hot water cylinder holds enough hot water to fill a bowl for washing up.  The toilet is new and is now accessed from inside the house, thanks Guy for all your handwork there, that was a really grim job, I am forever grateful!  Here are some pics of us and Warren Cottage ready to move in to!

Guy's gran Ethel, came to visit for a cuppa to see how the renovations were going

It's lovely to have a kitchen with all modern appliances fitting in to it; fridge/freezer, dishwasher, hob and oven, washing machine and tumble dryer,  what a result, I'm happy with that!

We had to get four-wheel drive vehicles, the Audi TT and my lovely lovely Karmann Ghia  were replaced (that was a sad day when I saw her being driven off!)

The ground was fine in the dry, but as soon as it rained you couldn't get off this drive even in the four-wheel drive, the wet chalk is ice-like when wet and on this slope with regular road tyres it was a comedy to watch!

Old furniture left behind by the previous owners had to be cleared, we loaded it all up and Guy took it away!

Guy is very happy his pick-up is coming in so handy!

"MOVING IN DAY!"  It took a while with only the pick up!  Guy's swapped his white pick up for a stealthy black one!

The new toilet area and Guy installed a sink for us.  OK, it's freezing in here in the winter, the window has ice on the inside, but it is luxury compared to going outside to get to it!  The wall opposite used to be the door from the outside!

A new front door was needed as we had to make the house more secure, break-in's had been attempted on the last one!

Living room with a bay window looking out to the view!  The snug area is just to the right of shot with the sofa under the window.  The kitchen is through a door off to the left of the living room

This is the snug, the warmest place in the house, where we spend most of our time!

This is the living room, the photo is taken standing in the snug area, the shower room is through the door to the left of the fire.  We don't use this area very much because it's chilly and this log burner isn't as good as the small one in the snug, also there's no TV to tempt us here!  It's good to have this second burner in the winter when it's freezing!

Sofa in the snug and the dining table in the living room

September 07 - October 07

It is September 2007 and before we moved in we had lots of DIY to do!  Warren cottage is a going to be a great place to live!

This is going to be the kitchen

A new floor to replace the rotten one in the kitchen area, think it must have got really damp over the years

Replacing some wall that had rotted gave us a chance to put in some insulation, the house doesn't very much!

More rotten floor to replace.  Wow, no wonder I can hear the mice, they're right under my feet!

More structural work and a bit more insulation, this will be the only warm room in the house!

Guy in the living room with the snug area behind him and a door through to the hall on his right

The old pump, 20 pumps would get water from the outside roof collecting tank to inside the house, it worked really well....I didn't like the look of the water though!  We used bottled water until we had the borehole sunk and water attached to the house!

Kitchen door and entrance to the house

Living room snug area, pic taken from the door to the hall

The hall, a REALLY chilly area

This would become our bedroom it looks out to the view

The door to our bedroom off the hall and the lovely fireplace

The chimney needed some mortar and a new pot, Guy's climbing skills and head for heights came in handy!

Guy's homemade scaffold worked a treat and made for a very safe job!

Guy's got his harness on because those old asbestos tiles and wooden roof didn't look too secure, but looking at the chimney stack he's attached too isn't that reassuring either

The scaffold wasn't cheap to make, but it sure was good!

That old pot had to go, but I re-used it as a bird bath!

Guy's working out how to tackle it, it was a heavy pot and his perch wasn't that steady!

Pot removed and it was time to get the chimney liner installed, this wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be!  I was downstairs in the living room shoving it up and getting showered in sooty bits! It was sharp at the end and a bit unwieldy!

Guy put duck/gaffer tape on the end of the chimney liner where it's really sharp, good idea!

Guy mortared in a slab and set the log burner on top of it, attached the flue and then we had, at last, as source of heat!   This log burner is Guy's best ever purchase in the last 10 years he said!

My Dad, Chris Hodgson, he helped with so many things; kitchen installation, putting in a consumer unit, wiring up the house,  putting in electric heaters and all the lights, lots of woodwork, there wasn't much he wasn't involved with, Guy and I were very grateful for all his help, it made for a much quicker job.  Many hands make light work!

Our first electric socket

First electric lights!  Oil lamps were installed on the walls when we arrived, but they weren't practical for our needs, so we had to take them down, which was a shame, but, living in this house was temporary after all, eventually the whole house was going to have to be replaced as it was mortgageable!  We had to keep this thought in mind with all the DIY, there was no point in going OTT, in a couple of years it would all be gone!

Curtains are now up in every room, thank you Mum for your hours of ironing there!  It's also time to try out the second log burner stove!

The hard workers, Guy and Dad!

Dad's installing a heater in the shower room, Guy and I are forever grateful for this idea as there's ice on the windows in this room during the winter and in the morning it makes all the difference to turn the heater on whilst we're in that space