Our new project House (and rock cave houses)

[CTO]

There is still a LOT more to do round the place, albeit mostly outdoors..

Balcony
Patio
Raise decking with wood fired tub
Build a ramp to the top cave to allow tractor driving and digger access

The list goes on

[CTO]

Austin_Metro said:

Good stuff CTO. Have enjoyed this thoroughly. Good acquisition for the garden.

Think the island rather than the closed peninsula for the kitchen supports the social side of that space. However, we’ve gone peninsula on ours. May do a build thread but we’ve got no caves, no landrover and no chorus, so it’s not likely to be so fun.

The island bit is defo a win. I cooked last week while the guests and wife sat opposite me, knocking back bongs of fizz

Tbh, it really worked and made cooking quite interactive. The only downside is that the more pissed the wife and guests got, the more opinions they had about the cooking……



Etc etc etc

[CTO]

Evening all,

Well, the mower arrived today


It has a drinks holder, which I like, but, it also has a seat which seems to be coated in lard..

I spent most of my time traversing the slopes trying not not to slide out of the seat

Absolute game changer though. I did the back lawn in about 15 mins, and the rest of the grass in another five.

Once the Chorus has gone, there will be more grass and there is also another lawn to the right of the house that is yet to be seeded. Looking forward to having a crack at that

I will keep updating the thread as we start to get the outside of the place sorted, and thanks to everyone that has shared the love on here…

Next big Q is; will the 10ft wide chorus, fit through the 12ft wide gate..

In theory it should, but in reality, I can see this happening….


Cheers all,

[CTO]

I don’t disagree,

But it was either that, or put me back out doing the emergency toilet paper scan, swivel and grab

They’ll get replaced, in time, probably

[CTO]

Good spot Dhutch!

Those were indeed the old cupboard doors from the original kitchen, repurposed as roof painting trestles

To those of you querying whether to start your own threads. I have to say I would definitely recommend it.
There are times when I have found posting very therapeutic, and had some really great advice/constructive comments.

Honourable shout out to the poster that gave me very comprehensive details on how to repair and secure the rock house door.. back in the early days. Incredible effort!

There have been many more regulars as well who have kept an eye on proceedings. Some of whom gave free professional advice offline re the dodgy dealings of bumbling Bob the bungling builder, and how to approach not building him into the foundations

To all of you that have chipped in and contributed



There are also times when I have swerved posting for a few weeks, mainly when we have had a lot to deal with this end and I just needed time to get my head round it all….

Now it is done though, it’s a great memory book back to what a couple of noobs, with a vaguely considered plan, can achieve through determination, hard work, help from friends and strangers, bloody mindedness and almost every penny scraped together..

And onto the subject of Pennies…..

A poster a few pages back asked how we thought we had got on re the financials, and I did say we would total it up and come back with an approximation of where we thought we had ended up….



I have just consulted Mrs CTO who is sat at the other end of the table from me.

It’s a long table, helpful for having such discussions



Us at the moment be like..



Back of fag packets maths is that we are around 65% over our original budget.

I know that is not much use without sharing the original budget, but you lot are wise enough to work out what we probably had as the original ball park, and what another 65% over that might equate to.

Worth also noting that although the headline figure of 65% over sounds a bit spicy, it is largely due to the fiscally challenged Bob giving us a quote that was so unrealistically small that only the unseasoned and totally naive noobs would fail to see the gaping holes in it…

Noobs eh…





In other news, if anyone is interested, I am planning to continue updating this post as the next year unfolds ; Waving goodbye to the faithful Chorus, seeding the lawn, building the deck by the top cave etc.

I also need to build an access ramp to the top cave for the mower… no idea yet how that is gonna be achieved, although thinking ropes, pulleys and tractors pulling mini excavators up the slope..

What’s the worst that can happen

Cheers all

[CTO]

When we started out, there were some discussions about a death slide from the top rock house to the bottom, for beer runs.

Problem with that being
a) will still have to walk back up
b) will be very dangerous when spannered
c) am middle aged and out of shape for dangerous pursuits

The ramp will be helpful because I can drive the lawnmower down when pissed up, and fill the trailer with beer and snacks and drive it back up.

I can’t work out whether it is more dangerous to start at the bottom and start grading up, or start at the top and start filing the bottom..

It’s going to be quite tippy though going downwards.

In other news, the guest bathroom was finally finished today. A LOT of faffing for a room that will be used only by people who won’t really care/don’t really care/too hammered to care…

Not the most interesting of pics and is very bare at the moment so looks a bit sparse but ..







I also have a chap coming tomorrow to quote for porch building, and another chap coming to fit the mechanism for the electric gates… at some stage.

The latter seems to be a man of regional mystery. I don’t know when he may call, if he may call, when he may arrive, if he arrives at all….

Nevertheless, he is good with gates apparently and will fit the internet gateway to enable them to be opened via phone, or Apple Watch, when on the way down the lane to the house…



Cheers all

[CTO]

Schroedingers Gate Installations

[CTO]

TimmyMallett said:

CTO said:

The latter seems to be a man of regional mystery. I don’t know when he may call, if he may call, when he may arrive, if he arrives at all….

I am familiar with the profound that is MoRM.

You need to exercise caution with your expectations as I am sure they share properties with quantum physics in that if you think about them turning up, they never will, but if you keep them in your peripheral awareness but never actually focus on them, they rock up at a time that makes the first thing you exclaim.... 'I wasn't expecting you this soon!'....it’s a pavlovian response to a nice surprise

You were absolutely bang on the money.

I decided to stop thinking about it, and lo, on Thursday the Gateman did call and announce he cometh, the following day!

So now we have gates that are electric and ting. Snazzy!

Bearing in mind that one company quoted us £2300 plus VAT for the install (and it really was just the install of the Ram and Control box etc. Electrical feed and cat 6a I put in 2022, as per below)



And


The company we actually used charged us £650. That included adding a new key pad and putting the cabling in for that, fabricating a bracket on site to get the geometry right, connecting the electrics at both ends and installing an isolator box, and they threw in some key ring tag thingys which they found in the back of their van and saves the MiL having to try and remember the code…

I wanted to put some lights on the pillars, to make the place look a bit more inviting, but didn’t want to spend much and also didn’t want them to be too sudden..

Quick browse on Amazon and these arrived today..



Took about 20 mins to install (two screws per light), and out gates now look like this…




Looks ok, I reckon.

Will see how they last, being made of pure Chinesium.

This week.

Mr Dig arrives back tomorrow, equipped with his Digger, natch.

The plan is to remove the excess earth from the area by the gabions, grade it all, move the surplus earth to by the LPG tank and raise the level a bit, and then grade that as well.

We then have about 36 ton of road planings to be delivered which we will spread round the perimeter of the house and compact. The compacted planings will then become the hardcore for the patio, and for the slabs to provide a path around the house…

I am on dumper driving duty on Thurs and Friday. Last time I did that, I got it on three wheels when turning on a slope, and nearly st myself….

Hopefully it’s less traumatic this time!

Cheers all,

[CTO]

thepritch said:

It might have been said but this build thread has been thoroughly enjoyable and rivals Grand Designs in terms of scope, depth of thought, jeopardy, and craftsmanship and pure entertainment.

(But I don’t think you had any kids during the build did you?)

Well done, and thank you for sharing the excitement and sheer hard work of your huge project with us all. I think you’ve managed to inspire a good lot of readers here at PH to perhaps push the boat out a bit and get stuck in.

Thank you CTO!

Thank you!!!

We didn’t have any kids

We did adopt the one eyed bandit, from a rescue place who got her via a puppy farm…



Giving rise to one of the pics from the last two years which makes me smile the most…

The reaction from our other dog,, who until this point had enjoyed a canine life of solitary spoilt bliss…



The face on it

Clearly thinking “WTaF is that thing in the back of MY car”

Cheers all,

[CTO]

Gooooooooood evening all….



I hope you are all keeping well, and warm during this inclement weather

Fair to say we are some degrees warmer this year than last, I estimate the amount of degrees being about 10. This being the time last year we were in the trusty Chorus Mk II (two berth) and the air was freezing as it left our shivering bodies….

More on that later…..

Last time we all spoke, we were in the process of tidying up the rear, with some help from Mr Dig and Gabion Graham..

So, a bit of an update on that.

It was a bit of a mission to get done, dodging around the weather, but it had to be at least usable during the winter months and covered in some type of aggregate to prevent the “Seal On Legs” and the artist formerly known as “the one eyed bandit” and now known as “ASBO”, from traipsing mud throughout the house.

It was looking like this…



this



And this…..



Just a bit of a mess really

And of course it rained, making it look like this



And this



FMaL

But we cracked on….

At this point, my brother and nephew decided to put in an appearance, ostensibly being in the Midlands “on business”, but I suspect probably just to come and point and laugh

Good opportunity for a famalam selfie though…



I am the good looking one, on the left

In typical style, they decided to stitch me up upon their arrival……

I didn’t notice they had arrived, and they pulled up in separate cars out the front of the house, suited and booted and were met as strangers by Mr Dig…

Now, Mr Dig, he ain’t a big guy, but he coulda been a contender, and is not the type to kowtow to “furriners” in fancy metal and sharp threads….

Think the personality of this fella…..



But in turned up “site” trousers….

Being the humorous type, they announced to Mr Dig that they were bailiffs, had come to repossess the property and were looking for the owner…

Mr Dig however, had other ideas. Fixing them both with a steely glare, he said “oh yeah, what’s the owners name then?”

My brother purported to consider the question, and then announced my correct name… to the considerable shock of Mr Dig, who by this stage was caught between loyalty/having my back, and wondering if we had gone belly up, and whether he was going to get paid..

I came round the corner to what was shaping up to be frosty stand off. My brother later confessing he thought Mr Dig was fixing up to batter him with the shovel he was holding

It turns out Mr Dig has a pathological hatred of Bailiff’s

That interlude over, and with the sun coming out over a rapidly retreating famalam, we cracked on with putting the hardcore down, turning the soggy site into this…



This



And this





Brutal but functional, is how I would sum it up.

There is far too much aggregate about the place, but this will be balanced out next year as we seed the area to the right, left and behind of the house, narrow down the paths and get some edging in…. hopefully.

To celebrate not having a back yard that looked like a quagmire, and our sixth anniversary, the wife and I bought some Christmas jumpers…



And went out on the piss…

Now, it’s been a long time since we could let our hair down and enjoy a night out as bezzies, without a hangover dominated by house worries…

So we decided to go on a pub crawl..

Except we got to the first pub, got absolutely leathered and went nowhere else. The wife accosted the pub singer for a dance and I got copped onto by an amorous and surprisingly muscular 84 yr old lascivious spinster with a gleam in her eye.

Glory days

Some days later, having recovered from the bacchanalian marauding of the weekend, we set about prepping the Chorus for her new home..

Firstly, we had to take off the home made sidings, of which I was so proud back in the day, disconnect her from the utilities and clean out the remainder of our belongings which we had left in there..

Much like my would be paramour from the previous weekend, the Chorus also looked a bit past her heyday, and she too smelt a little fousty.





And although we aren’t sad to see the back of her, she served us well, and it felt fitting that we kept a treasure to remember her by…



She is due to be collected on Saturday lunchtime and to go to her new home, a young couple who have bought a house project and are going to live in the Chorus whilst they undertake the building works.

Viva la Chorus



Firstly however, we actually need to get her off the property and down to the road for the transport company.

For reference; this is how she went in
(Click for video)





Which doesn’t look tooooooo difficult, other than the fact that we now have these;



Which I have grown to be quite fond of..

A quick measure suggests that we should have about three inches of clearance either side, if it is taken at a straight angle, which it can’t be.

To deal with the above, Jamie, the fence building Farmer, and Paul, the gas tank bulldozing Farmer, are both arriving at 10am on Saturday, armed with their respective tractors, some chains, and a Dunkirk spirit attitude.

Jamie has offered that if it can’t be got out easily, he will pick it up with the tines on his tractor, and throw it over the hedge into the road..

One was not amused….



We do have some further updates to add, including how Gabion Graham came to be renamed “Gerald”. Why the “one eyed bandit” is now called “ASBO”, and why we now have a half built porch bolted to the front of the house..

I will try and make some time to update tomorrow ahead of the big move on Saturday.

Thanks, and our apologies it has been a while since the last update.

Cheers all,

[CTO]

Hey Timmy,

I hadn't, but I have now

and thank you. Happy Christmas to you too, and thanks for all your contributions to this thread

[CTO]

Evening all!

Hope you’re all keeping well and ready for the festive break!


Prand: regarding your post above and the Facebook clips. It dates back to just prior purchasing the house. It was one of the first videos we saw whilst we were waiting to exchange and complete, and tbh it gave us the heebies re weirdo’s wandering round the place!

Largely, all that nonsense has now stopped. The last occasion was when we were building the drive access, back in June 21. Despite building plant being all over the site, some oddball posted a video of himself on our drive, in front of the rock house, declaring it an amazing abandoned site of interest, lost for years……

Except, if our intrepid explorer had actually panned round everrrrrrr so slightly, this would have been in shot



One of our friends actually ventured onto Facebook, to add a comment saying “this isn’t abandoned, this is my friends house and you are trespassing”.

She got called a fantasist, and a “Grubby Liar” for her troubles….. People were really hostile and quite abusive. All that being said, the term Grubby Liar has however now entered our friendship group ideolect

Anyhow, that was then, and thankfully, this is now

Last time we spoke, we were readying ourselves for the departure of the trusty Chorus. A sad day, but also a valedictory tribute to the service of the fibreglass home on wheels.

So. The day dawned, and the day was fakking freezing!

I managed to grab some last pics of the balmy conditions within the Chorus. Bearing in mind it was -2 degrees in the morn, and also consider that this time last year it was -7 degrees, and we were living/existing/surviving in it…



On the day of the move this year, it be chilly in the Van







Heeding the advice of some time served Park Home locals, I had left the tap on overnight, very low to prevent the pipes freezing…

Clearly left it on a bit too low, this happened



Undeterred, our incredible friends arrived at 10am, and we were good to go!

Farmer Paul arrived in his Ford



Farmer Jamie arrived in his 4WD Massey



The plan was for Farmer Paul to be the lead vehicle, his tractor being lighter and nimbler and easier to shunt the van about to get it on the right trajectory to get it through the gate…

If we couldn’t manage the right angle….



Farmer Jamie was gonna pick the arse of the van up, with the big spikes on the front loader wedged under the chassis rails and shunt the van sideways until we could get it through the gate…

So, we had a plan, of sorts.

We had enough heavy machinery to get the job done, we had some biscuits, and my head was rapidly going numb with the cold, so on we cracked……

First line up was looking good



Albeit a little bit snug….









All going swimmingly well. We were beginning to smile triumphantly to our assembled wives, a bit like…



It went downhill from this point on, both literally and figuratively.

The Chorus became comprehensively wedged. Half in the gate, half out the gate.



The main issue was the camber of our access ramp up to the drive, which has a bit of a lean on it, a bit off camber…

This meant that as the chorus passed the half way point, it was able to roll laterally on the sidewalls of its very perished and ancient teeny tiny pram wheels.

Think the kind of wheels you get on a knackered old boat trailer, equally as rusty, but with the same stance as this…



We tried moving it back and forward a bit, but the gatepost was threatening to rip the side out of the van, so we tried our back up plan of lifting the rear with the tines on the front loader of the Massey.



And then half walking/ half dragging it sideways. I didn’t trust the chassis enough to do a full lift, and I didn’t trust the axle enough to simply whop a chain round it and give it a pull with the full weight of the van on it…

Little by little, expecting any minute for the whole thing to collapse, we eekied the van sideways

Click the below for a short vid; you can see the tractor bouncing the van sideways…



But it worked!!! and using that methodology, and a LOT of silent praying to the builders of the ancient van, we managed to ease her through the gate and down the drive



And into her temporary resting place on the road outside the house, awaiting her transport to her new home..





And then the transport arrived….



Up she went……



And away she went….







I can’t really remember what the patch where it sat looked like without a van plonked on it…

It looks like this



Tbh, it was bit bare… so I put a plant there instead





We got the van moved just in time, for the next day the Snowlercoaster clanked into view…





Very pretty, but would have been an utter PITA had it happened 24hrs earlier!

The next week, our long awaited shutters arrived, in many boxes, stored in the lounge and awaiting installation



(That’s about 1/2 of them. There was another van load which arrived with the installers!)

The following Monday, the installation guys arrived and set about fitting them…

The lounge



The downstairs cloak



The guest bedroom



The office



And our en-suite



There are also shutters in our bedroom, but I forgot to get a pic of them from the inside…

From the outside tho, they look like this



(Not sure why they look green, they aren’t. Maybe summat to do with the solar glazing on the rear elevation???)

There has also been a lot going on in other parts of the house, getting it ready for Christmas.

The alarm system has been fitted, and is fabulous. The company that fitted it have been brilliant and been remote dialling in to tweak settings as we get used to it. Including personalising the key pads with our nicknames

Naff AF, I know but it makes me smile whenever I see them.

Also, we are mostly through getting the porch built, awaiting the roofer to come on Wednesday and tile it, and I will post some pics

We also have found the people who will be building our balcony, and I have had the opportunity to have a tour round their workshop.. incredible place!



They are now in the process of drawing up the plans, ready for our sign off in the new year and to be built early spring ahead of the patio being installed…..

All that aside, we have plans for the next few weeks which are gonna need all of our attention!

We are hosting the outlaws (12) on Christmas Eve, and then my family (13) are travelling up from the shires and France on Boxing Day and we are hosting them also.



We are both looking forward to the opportunity to fill the house with family and friends. Houses always feel like a home once you have had the time to fill them with memories of the people you love and care for, and get stfaced with

To that end, we have a fridge full of food, we are doing multiple booze runs and I’ve just ordered a new set of Beer Pong…

That kitchen table ain’t gonna christen itself



Cheers all

[CTO]

Thanks, you lot!

For sure looking forward to Christmas, although haven’t yet had the oppo to put any decs up! Might be a job for today…

The rock house is on standby for errant family members. On Boxing Day we have five Anglo-French yoots coming, courtesy of my brother and his wife… four of their own, plus a girlfriend in tow….

Last time they came, we had a dance off to some French Drum and Bass, in the kitchen. This time they are all a bit older, so will probably just stand about, sipping Genepi, looking all teenagerey and Gallic and brooding….



Not sure what the collective noun is for a group of teenagers…

A “gaggle” doesn’t sound right, maybe a “contemplation” or a “hormone”?

Re the space where the Chorus was, it is being seeded back to lawn in spring… well, I say that, I’ll probably just buy some turf and bang it down.. it’s what I did for the dogs garden when I installed the van, and it was labour and cost easy

To the right of it, there is definitely space for a double garage and that is the eventual plan, when we have any cash monies available to pay for said garage.

The people that are building our balcony, also build beautiful garages. Handy

Some of their examples are below;



We always knew this may be our ultimate outcome, so the utilities that were laid for the Chorus (water, power, cat 6a) were placed to also serve the garage.



Split in the driveway to feed rock house, gate automation and Chorus/Garage.



But we aren’t at the garage affordability stage right now, so that is defo gonna have to wait

The landy and mower are handily stored nearby though, so I can access them whenever needed and at short notice, I reckon the garage might be phase three or even four or five.

Tbh, I haven’t yet worked out phases. But, the term phases, sounds a lot more like we have a plan, which we do, of course…..




Cheers all,

[CTO]

Celtic Dragon said:

Sorry if I missed it, but why is The One Eyed Bandit now called ASBO?

Well, TOEB has always been a bit of a chav

Constantly burping and farting her way through life..

Every morning when she has her breakfast, she barges the Seal on Legs out of the way, proceeds to inhale as much of her food as quickly as possible and then heads for the garden for a st, emitting various gastrointestinal noises and invariably staring me in the eye whilst defecating on our lawn.

It’s been a running joke between Mr Dig and Gabion Graham/Gerald that one day she will probably nick the wheels off his van. She just has that kinda look about her.

Dodgy, like she’ll nick anything….




Anyhow, GG and Mr Dig have christened her “ASBO”, and it has stuck

Part of her nature is that she has to have a paw in anything anyone else is doing, as evident whilst the concrete pad was being constructed for the porch..

Mr Dig sent me this via WhatsApp….



Aaaand, onto the subject of the porch…. It is finally finished.

A few pics of the process below,

Starting off with the shuttering and the pad being put down







This involved some late nights





And some long days… so I kept the spirits up with some bacon and sausage sarnies and plenty of coffee!



And then the building of the two dwarf walls started. We had kept the bricks from the demolition of the chimney, way back in the early days, mindful that we would probably want them for this purpose and to ensure a match with the existing brickwork….



Had some oak cappings made by the place that are going to be doing our Balcony



And they went on the top of the dwarf walls





(I know the dwarf walls don’t look very dwarfy in these pics, but the ground level still needs to come up a fair bit and there will be a floor using the Cotswold stone slabs that we saved from the previous patio, and which are about an inch and half thick!)

Anyhow, the cappings went on, and the actual porch frame and canopy started..





And the roof went on…





There are cappings to go round the base of each post, so the brackets will be covered, but we haven’t got round to that part yet!

To light said porch, we had a plan

Waaaaay way back, when we were clearing the caves of all the detritus left by the previous owners, we came across a beautiful brass light fitting, nestled amongst old newspapers and bits of carpet.



So we stored it carefully to one side, to retrieve it when we had somewhere to put it… like a porch

I took it apart and gave it a clean, and it came up really lovely. I didn’t want it to look new or to lose the patina, just to get the worst of the dirt off it.





And then wired it in. I don’t usually touch electrics, but the feed had been put in by Craig the Sparky, and simply needed connecting at the switch and to the light. I did the light part, and then Craig FaceTimed me and guided me through connecting it to the Wago’s and the hallway switch. Tbh, the whole remote tutorial thing worked incredibly well. God knows how the insurance liability would work but there has to be a market for this type of thing

Remote plumbing, remote sparky…

Anyhow, connected it all up and hit the switch, and we finally had a porch light!



And, because it’s the anniversary of the birth of the baby Jesu! I took the opportunity to chuck some fairy lights on the porch as well..

So from no lights, to many lights!





And I also took the opportunity to chuck some more lights up round the roof





Which brings us right up to last night! I finished work yesterday for the Christmas break, back in work on 3rd Jan.

Having had Covid last week, we still hadn’t had the chance to put up and decorations or a tree. So I celebrated finishing work by partaking of a whisky (or three) and throwing the tree up with the wife






Which means that today is a day of bacon sandwiches, and watching the last four episodes of The Crown

This is the last day of relative peace we have prior to the festivities kicking off… I plan to make the most of it, by making the least of it

Cheers all,

[CTO]

^^^^

[CTO]

Hi Ace-T

Thank you, and yes, more than happy to share costs

Canopy kit: £700
Oak Cappings: £225
Dwarf wall construction: £240
Cappings fixing to top of dwarf walls: £60
Labour for the groundwork, inc concrete pad, construction of porch and erection/attachment to house: £900
Slating/felting/leadwork: £300
Other sundries (sand/cement etc) circa £100


Total: £2525

(Slates and bricks our own)

Hope helpful, and happy to share details of suppliers etc

Cheers

[CTO]

Thanks Edmond…

Obligatory pre Xmas dinner selfie




It was fabulous to have all the family round for the festivities… Round two commences tomorrow!

Hope you have all had an enjoyable and restful day, whatever you may be doing

Cheers all, and Happy Christmas

[CTO]

Good evening all!

As 2023 draws to a close, I thought it might be a good time to do a final year end update.

I think I documented in this thread that all I ever wanted to do once the house was finished, was sit in the shower, have a glass of single malt, and sit there until the stress had washed away.

There were so many times where we thought that was just a pipe dream. Financial woes, Bob the blundering builder, to name but a few….

But, as we prep for a group of friends to join us for New Year’s Eve partying….



So,



p

And





A huge thank you from Mrs CTO and I, to all of you, for your support, encouragement, advice and good humour over the last few years.



Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2024!

Best wishes all,

CTO and Mrs CTO x

Edited by CTO on Monday 1st January 17:27

[CTO]

Hey BC!

Sorry I missed your post

Re the Thermaskirt, couldn’t be happier with it TBH.

Out lounge is reasonable size, maybe between 9 or ten long and maybe four and half to five metres wide, and the thermaskirt heats it up quickly and keeps it warm.

There are some minor oddities, it makes a few “banging noises” when you first switch it on and the whole skirting board moves a bit with the heat, but it settles down quickly and is quiet as can be.

I was a bit dubious about it, reviews are very much YMMV, but for us it made total sense re maximising the wall space and I can definitely say we are happy with it.

Cost wise, iirc, supply and fitting (from the pipe tails) so including all the pipe work round the lounge, the “skirting” etc and install, was £1288.43

(I know this level of accuracy because I just asked my wife)

Hope helpful and happy to answer any other queries you may have

Cheers

[CTO]

Good afternoon all,

And…..



Feels like it’s been a while since we all caught up, and hope you are keeping well, and dry…

Dry because it feels like it has rained since November, and it is still fecking raining today.

There have been a few updates to add, nothing too major though, and I have kinda been saving it up until we had something of note to post..

On the few dry days that we did have..

I had a go at digging a path and whittling some wood to weave for the walkway, to the top cave.

Some of you may recall that last year we held a mini Glastonbury by the top cave.. “mini Glastonbury” being a massive reach for what we actually did which was cart a tv up there, light a fire and get absolutely spannered..



It turns out that the path back down, which is off camber and at a funny angle, is a bit treacherous when a man has availed himself of a few light ales… my wife having to rescue me from the bushes at least twice as I fell over and rolled down the hill…

In anticipation of a re run this year, I have started work on a new, wider, flatter and therefore hopefully safer path..

Very much a WIP, but here is the beginning of it

Breaking up the soil


And



And then began digging out the new path route and putting the edging in.

The edging is only cosmetic, and there will eventually be wooden posts on the right hand side, with a rope linking them and lights on each post.

But that will be then, and this is now





Tbh, as a first effort, I think it looks surprisingly ok, I say surprisingly, because I surprised myself

To accompany the above, I have been doing some remedial ground works, taking out the old water feeds for the Chorus MKII 34 (two berth) and re routing them to provide a new water feed and power feed for our latest purchase…

Digging it up






Making it good



Then digging a new trench



And making that good…



Tragically, my face after finishing this bit above, was a bit like this





Eventually all the above will be stripped back and laid to grass, but I needed to get the tails in the right place and heading the right direction for what was coming next…

Which takes us up to today…..

After a few months of gentle discussion and negotiation, we exchanged on Monday, and completed today on the land that adjoins our garden…

What does one need when they have a 4/7ths finished house, a whole load of landscaping to do, a patio to sort, some lawn to seed, and a million other things that makes your head hurt if you think about it too hard…

Some more abandoned rock houses, and a stagnant pond

Got the call at around midday to say the transaction had completed, put the phone down and I’ve ventured down there to get a few early pics..

So, in no particular order, behold our latest headache















And I managed to get a short video of the inside without managing to either a) fall over, or b) Impale myself on one of the rusty old implements lying about

Video is here

https://youtube.com/shorts/5CvzZo-wuvk?feature=sha...

I think it has four separate rooms. Two main rooms and two bedrooms.

It is in worse repair than the rock house in our garden, but I hope will look a lot better once all the rubbish is cleared out and you can walk about it more freely.

To accompany the above, is also another, much more intact and recognisable rock house, and the aforementioned stagnant pond.

I have to head out now to pick up a few bits and pieces.. some shopping, some new shorts for me holiday, and a refreshed stock of optimism and ambition

In the interim, here is a pic of the other rock house.

It remains locked at the moment and my wife has asked for me to wait until she gets home for us to venture in there together..

No key, of course, so the crowbar is coming out





And how it once looked…..





The lady who lived there…



And the account from her son, about his life growing up there… seems like he had a lovely childhood tbh



I’ll get some more pics a bit later on and update the thread, but in the interim, thanks all of you for your continued interest and support as we make it up as we go along

Cheers all,