Far Lands

It was our 13th wedding anniversary last week - unlucky for some maybe, but I spent it with my mother-in-law. (And Sarah!) To mark the occasion, I have improved the steps down from the drive to the garden - using a bucketful of cement from the builders, I fixed the wobbly ones. And a general weed and tidy up has made them double in size. They are now officially the Anniversary Steps . In their improvement, I actually found a bottom corner block that was totally under grass (bottom right of photo); and it made me wonder what other hidden treasures lie around Farlands...

Week 6 - the stone walls have now reached the pitched roof, and the corbel stone (the topmost quoin) has been cut and placed. The corbel was cut and chiselled from a rectangular block using a cardboard template pattern. And the roof slates have arrived. The corbel It has been a much better week in the garden - we are picking strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants as fast as we can process them. Some flash freezing, but plenty on cereal, with ice-cream or meringues and I did a Summer pudding this week. Quite tasty if I do say so myself! And now the sun is here, it's a big catch-up on the dry jobs - kindling collection, weeding the slug-infested veg garden and fruit cage.

Week 5 of the extension has seen the roof taking shape - we are having three velux windows in the pitched roof (23 degrees). Two of the windows are in the Utility Room / Gym. These windows seem huge, and should give plenty of light and, of course, room to skip! (Not skip around-the-room skip-around-the-room , but hardcore Rocky -type skipping.) Back in the garden, one of Eva's hens is laying at Farlands again - one of the bright moments on these dreary midge-infested days.

Visible progress has slowed, not because of the persistent rain (our builders do it in all weathers), but because they are now building the stone. The gable window is a beauty, and the quoins are also very attractive. I have watched the builders preparing the stone - this is not a Barratt extension! This is a short video of Mark chiseling the margin (the inch wide finish on the corner of the building). He called this margin a harris, but I cannot find this in a dictionary or on google (further research needed!).

'It all' being work, the rain, the builders. We only had a week, and we had to pop back in the middle to check on the builders, but we had a great week, and at least got away from work and the builders... But, not the rain. We spent the first few days wild camping in the Lakes, around Thirlmere. It was very wet - in fact, I can't remember a trip when I did not take my waterproof trousers from start to finish (apart from in bed). After a lightning visit home, we then went South to find more rain and the East of England show at Peterborough - we had a great day looking at giant tractors, huge animals and having interesting chats on bees, farriery, floppy-eared goats and dry-stone walling. Dry-stone walling was especially interesting (and nothing to do with them having cakes to tempt people to stop and chat.)  A former life? Who's imitating who?

Finally, I've managed to get another article published. Slight change in genre from mountaineering to gay porn. Actually, no. I've written a two-parter for Smallholder magazine ( http://www.smallholder.co.uk/ ):- Opening the Gate to a new life Part I:- Becoming smallholders - James Ellson explains why and how he bought a smallholding. I looked out of the upstairs bay window and could feel tears welling up. I saw paddocks, trees, a greenhouse, a fenced vegetable garden; and hills beyond. And I dreamed of bees, an orchard, chickens, pigs, and being self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. Unable to speak, I nodded at my wife and the estate agent... If you want to read more you could:- 1) rush out and buy a copy 2) email me, and I will send you one!

We went away for a couple of days, and the builders built the extension!