Having just come back into Wales from Somerset again I'm bursting with things to write about. For now, I'll content myself with an update on our building project in Somerset...
This has been a Very Good Week. We have had an actual, real live builder on site!!! After almost 6 months with nothing discernible happening to our house, we now have a concrete base inside the main barn, some footings and low block walls, a couple of drains.....and a lot of sticky red clay outside where the concrete and subsoil have been excavated away from the barn wall. I can now breathe more easily. Let it rain. The barn is secure.
Here is the beautiful concrete slab (beauty is in the eye of the beholder), and the walls to the left will be the utility room - it looks tiny at this stage but will hopefully have room for a few boots and a dog one day.
This is technically what we are calling 'phase 1' - more so we can feel a sense of achievement than that any significant work has been done. Steve and Lee, our builders, have been brilliant. They turned up on time, every day, worked hard, kept everything tidy, discussed everything with us ....... and even came in under quote! What's more, they were both very good looking (don't worry they definitely won't be reading this and I'm sure Ian can get his own back with a simple mention of Alice-whatsername-Roberts).
I, meanwhile, have spent the week in trench warfare. Still sorting out the trenches dug through the lawn for water and drainage. Why oh why didn't we put down plastic before dumping all that red clay onto our lovely green healthy grass? You definitely learn by your mistakes. After about 7 hours
scraping with a rake I think the grass can breathe again. It is a challenge though finding places to put all the subsoil that is being dug out - i think we'll have to design some banks or hillocks somewhere - hopefully to look as natural as possible.
We relocated a lovely contorted hazel bush a couple of weeks ago - too early in the season as it turns out as it promptly and thoroughly died - or so I thought. Looking more closely this week, little green shoots have popped out all over it. God is good.
And to finish off, this is the view from somewhere in the Brecons on my journey back to Newbridge.
We can see Lan Ganol, above, our own version of 'sugarloaf' mountain, from our bedroom window if you lean out and peer round to the right. For all the beauty I am a little tired of being stuck here with my car iced up day after day, wearing two pairs of socks and wellies every time i go out. Cars are parked randomly at road junctions while their occupants walk miles down frozen lanes from their houses to their cars to get to work. Now we understand why there are so many landrovers in this part of the world and i am grateful for ians gas-guzzling truck. Still, the forecast is for warmer weather by the end of the week.... by which time we'll be back down south in the relative warmth of Somerset....not that it's warm anywhere at the moment.
Even Barney likes the view
at the trig point at 430m above sea level, Craig Chwefri
Please note I didn't take a picture of Ians reputedly-frozen nasal hairs.
And Lester getting ready for his first mountain hike....
Dave and Helen - we actually saw the Elan Valley in sun for the first time on that weekend.
This was the moment I decided my next car has to have a soft top...
...so most people make their own - with a car jack or giant screw fixed inside a wooden or steel framework and something to collect the juice as it's squeezed out. Ours was a wonderful contraption involving a stainless steel pan with holes drilled in it, a plastic tray, two wooden chopping boards, a few nuts and bolts to hold it together.....
