Renovating an old farmhouse and living on the Pennines
Discussion
AJLintern said:
Would recommend TP Link Powerline adaptors to send ethernet and wifi around the house through the electrical circuits. I even have it working through a 40m extension lead into my garage to boost the wifi signal in there 
That sounds useful, what if the upper and lower circuits are separate though?snowandrocks said:
Great thread - just spent half an hour with a cup of tea reading it from the start. We're in a similar if slightly less exposed spot in the middle of a forest on an Aberdeenshire hillside.
Couple of points - leave the bins at the roadside if you can, the binmen can help themselves so you never need to remember to put them out. It's also much easier transporting occasional small bags of rubbish than trying to move a full wheely bin through 2 feet of powder snow come winter!
I've always fancied a polytunnel - if you don't mind how much roughly did it set you back and does it feel up to the job of surviving the winter?
If you go back to P1 you'll see the entrance, there just isn't room for them there as the road is too narrow. I've got into the habit of putting the bins out over the years anyhow, so as long as I get a reminder it doesn't bother me, nor if we miss it now and again. If it snows the binmen won't be coming up here!Couple of points - leave the bins at the roadside if you can, the binmen can help themselves so you never need to remember to put them out. It's also much easier transporting occasional small bags of rubbish than trying to move a full wheely bin through 2 feet of powder snow come winter!
I've always fancied a polytunnel - if you don't mind how much roughly did it set you back and does it feel up to the job of surviving the winter?
I am that guy who runs around with the yellow light on for as long as poss, then fills the tank up until he can see the fuel
I've noticed these days that generally we create more recycling rubbish than the other, where we came from the Council had noted this, but not here, there are more black bin collection days than green. Handy when you've just moved in though and are clearing out other rubbish.
We had a delivery last week in a 33ft truck, he couldn't even turn in so I had to meet him on a layby to put the stuff in my van. It would be no good living out here with hatchback.
The PT was around £2.5k, they've been in the business longer than i've been born so figured they know a thing or too. Apparently they have had plenty in the Scottish Highlands and assorted islands up there so hopefully it'll be ok.
As said it's the doors which i'm not too keen or hopeful about, but you can get kits without doors.
Time will tell....
ApexCult said:
Evoluzione said:
That sounds useful, what if the upper and lower circuits are separate though?
I understand that if it's all on the same consumer unit there shouldn't be any issues!We dug it out, It needs to plug into a normal cable router though via Ethernet, so no good for this wifi, it has no plugs on it.
The other thing we've found is that her printer won't work with this wifi router either, she said there was a button on the back of the cable type you pressed to make it connect.
silentbrown said:
Good update!
Be careful what you store in the polytunnel. Friends of ours used one for storage for a while and the high temp/humidity did a lot of damage
Yes it's certainly something to look out for, when it's hot in there my glasses steam up as I walk in. The problem is we don't have anywhere to store anything which isn't damp. Be careful what you store in the polytunnel. Friends of ours used one for storage for a while and the high temp/humidity did a lot of damage
I bought some humidity and temp meters and placed them around the place, it's actually damper in the house than outside, even on a wet day
We've got into the routine of putting the de-humidifier on the ground floor at night and then upstairs during the day, it draws out about 40 litres per 24hrs.
Early Oct and the temp is between 10 and 12'c outside, in the Polytunnel it's 20 - 50 if the sun come out. Toasty.
I've planted some radish in an old Belfast sink in the PT to see what they'll do, they germinated in less than a week in the mid Autumn sun:.
I've located 4 or 5 old aerial pics of the house, but they want circa £300 for them so as much as I want them i'll put it on the back burner. Maybe they can be Christmas & birthday presents for me over a period of years. Tried one of the local libraries, they had nowt.
The temps of hot composter No.1 fell after a few weeks so I started on modified No.2. I think the failure is due to lack of air, as the stack compresses it starves itself. This was made worse by me topping it up as the level dropped.
Some pics of hot compost bin Mk2:
This coil runs through the centre:
As you can see it's insulated at the sides and aeriated from the bottom. The black pipe is perforated, over the top of that some stiff large holed mesh, on top of that some finer mesh. I don't know if venting from the bottom only will be enough, we'll see. Once it starts to warm it goes up at a rate of roughly 2'c per day, we're up to 50% (34'c) today after a couple of weeks.
It may be the eventual case that hoss muck is too dense to keep the temps up for long periods of time and I may have to switch to a more loose and aeriated material, but I have to rule it out first. It doesn't cost anything, most of the material so far has been odds n sods of my own or those left here by the previous owner.
If & when I've got it sussed I'll invest more into it.
silentbrown said:
Evoluzione said:
I've located 4 or 5 old aerial pics of the house, but they want circa £300 for them so as much as I want them i'll put it on the back burner. Maybe they can be Christmas & birthday presents for me over a period of years. Tried one of the local libraries, they had nowt.
Can't help with aerial photos, but the National Library of Scotland (yes...) has a brilliant selection of old maps online, including 25 inch/mile...https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom...
It also indicates a Well on our land on one copy/year, but it's where the stone sink is I pictured earlier. It has sunk and falls the wrong way (slopes away from the drain) so maybe one day i'll excavate it to right it and see if it isn't covering a well, but i'm doubtful.
Animals.
Not the type who dump rubbish, although as a side note some utter scumbag (who must run a tyre business) drove along one of the moor roads throwing about 30 odd old car tyres out of the back of a van. They went into the verges, various fields, and reservoir for about a mile, wtf is wrong with people?
The wildlife continues to amuse, surprise and annoy. The only annoyance is that I can't picture or film to convey all of its beauty to you as I have neither the equipment, time nor the skills. I hope my words go some way towards filling in the blanks.
An odd one is I haven't seen a Kestrel for a week or two, no idea why that is. A couple of Pheasants looked very awkward perched in a gnarly old Hawthorn pecking at the berries.
I got up for a pee at circa 5 or 6am and glanced out of the side window. The whole area was shrouded in low cloud as it sometimes is up here and the sun was trying its best to force its way through giving some strange ethereal light. A big owl sat on the ridge of the garage opposite me was watching out over the paddock, maybe it had been a poor nights hunting and was still hungry.
This is when you see them fly, when our daylight hours blend into their night-time. I think I mentioned earlier about driving over the surrounding moors at dusk and seeing them out hunting sometimes, it's pure magic.
Another day I went out of the house at about 11 am to see an owl leave the Sycamore and fly away carrying something in its claws. I did read (after you identifying it earlier) that brown owls sometimes do a bit during daylight hours and they do, We sometimes hear them calling during the day, but it's rare. Also as per earlier discussion their Summer screeches have turned to the more traditional twit a woo, or just a WooOOOooo now the weather has changed.
The recent incessant wind has turned the moorland grass brown and stripped a lot of leaves from the Owls favourite tree, that and the sun was in my favour for this shot:
I do wonder if the designer of the Spitfire looked at a Kestrel in flight before hitting the drawing board, those wings are very similar. They are very much like one another in their success and are a delight to watch also. The crows regularly take them on as crows do, they're rock hard are crows and will not think twice about even taking on a Buzzard or similar. They can be surprisingly agile when they want, but watching one take on a Kestrel was a bit like a bomber taking on a fighter. The battle in the air went on for quite some time and was great to watch.
I was stood talking to the farmer in our field as he was topping it when I saw a sizeable rabbit bounding down the path towards us. It's quite strange when they run towards you rather than away, but it does happen occasionally. It was followed by what I initially thought was a smaller rabbit, but couldn't understand why it didn't hop or bound like a rabbit, it was more like a wave form. As it neared I realised it was a rabbit being chased by a Stoat. The rabbit wasn't putting much effort in, just enough to keep ahead. I'm guessing it didn't realise when it got home the Stoat could get down the hole behind it.
I'm saying to Colin the farmer we may do this, we'd like to do that maybe. He says softly and knowingly you need to live it and observe for a year or so before making any decisions. I think he's a wise man.
I found a rabbit with Myxomatosis, it's an utterly horrible disease. I was going to write a few things about it, but it's an incredibly lengthy and difficult subject to research and would take an hour or so just to get some facts straight.
I couldn't bring myself to club a bunny in cold blood so off I went to meet another of our neighbours - the Gamekeeper. He was friendly enough, pushing his own agenda subtly as in telling us there were too many Pheasants and he used to trap stuff for the last owners here. It's his job, his belief, the way he's been brought up and nothing wrong with that I suppose.
He came round and dispensed with the rabbit, throwing it near a water course. I shovelled it up when he'd gone and took it down to the lower field, at least it was put to good use and somethings had a good meal out of it.
I've seen a couple more infected rabbits and we're overrun by them anyhow, I don't really mind them at all, but then i've had no veg for them to destroy yet. In the next few weeks we're going to have a falconry day, a club will bring a few birds to hunt the land which will be interesting.
We awoke last weekend to find the whole area bathed in low cloud, you could not see anything beyond the far wall of the yard.
I looked out a little later because I could hear the sound of an engine nearby to see the sun trying it's best to get through, the cloud thinning and grabbed my phone to get a pic. I can walk out here Council style in my dressing gown and slippers so got a few shots as it cleared:
Need to be a bit quicker next time.
There are trends in many things, I think the buzzword amongst many sheep farmers lately is 'Herdwicks'. Our farmer bought 60 in Cumbria and has put them on our land for Winter:
Some things I haven't had time to ID yet:
This thing was so big it could have taken my arm off:
Knur and spell is, or was a strange Northern game known as 'Poor man's Golf'. If you like watching old Northerners playing (lakin'), cheating and bickering with each other back in the day this video is quite amusing:
https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/knur-and-spell/...
Thanks for your comments and IDs 
It's always surprising to me how such a big caterpillar comes from a small moth.
You're not supposed to know where I live btw, it's a secret
If anyone wants to drop by you're always welcome, especially with the Falconry day next month.
The problem is a lot of people want something like this and have done for a few years now, it's like musical chairs. It's been a need (not a want) for some time for me and although there was a lot of stress involved I knew it would be worth it and it is.
Because we went on a 14 month rollercoaster ride of trying to buy it and being let down we couldn't plan anything like me closing the business down or clearing the land behind my old house. We didn't know it was ours until the last minute. This has meant trying to get some important jobs done on the house and leaving everything I own (which isn't in a house) and then slowly dragging it over here when i've created some space for it.
I'm now in the process of clearing what must be approx 15 tons of stuff from my workshop, stock, cars, machinery, tools & equipment etc.
I'm mentioning this as that's the reason it all looks a bit poorly organised, it's been like spinning plates and i'll be glad when everything is here and I can get stuck in, hopefully by the end of this month.
When you've got 20 jobs which NEED DOING RIGHT NOW and before the weather breaks it's difficult to choose which one!
If you're localish you'll know the A644 is littered withPoliced cash machines speed cameras, some permanent, some temporary. Driving back and forth, often in quiet times has earned me two SP30s so i'm grounded this morning and on a Speed awareness course 
Saturday morning and they were sat round the corner from that one way junction the b
ds.
Regarding damp and treatment, there are a few ways to go.
As the house isn't listed and hasn't any really interesting features inside I just want it tidy, maintenance and damp free. All the architectural character is outside and it can stay that way. Some people think they have to live with damp, I don't!
You have to consider what actually caused someone to spend thousands on trying to fight off the damp. Unless you can contact the people who started the unfortunate chain of poor preventions you'll never know what it was.
A very rough rule of thumb bandied about is that damp solid walls will dry out at a rate of 1mm per month.
One niggle I have is that we have a faulty rubble filled wall. Faulty in that either from being built or erosion over time has left the walls with fissures going straight through which enable water to travel through. To fix that would be an enormous cost and not DIY.
I think i'm going to opt for creating a room within a room. That is, treat the outside of the house walls in the traditional way so it looks and acts as it was built to do. On the inside i'll strip all the gypsum and whatever else is lurking under there off and put a Newton membrane (or similar) on. This will allow me to vent the wall from top to bottom and it can do whatever it likes behind there whilst we're warm and damp free inside. It would be good to have some traditional finishes inside like lime plastering to bring in some character, but i'm thinking not at the moment.
We have plenty of Cloughs and Soughs, I believe the latter can be pronounced soff or sow (pig), but am no expert!
Hot composting stack has paused at 37, but it's 57 in the PT.
More pics and chat about actually doing something to come later....
It's always surprising to me how such a big caterpillar comes from a small moth.You're not supposed to know where I live btw, it's a secret
If anyone wants to drop by you're always welcome, especially with the Falconry day next month.The problem is a lot of people want something like this and have done for a few years now, it's like musical chairs. It's been a need (not a want) for some time for me and although there was a lot of stress involved I knew it would be worth it and it is.
Because we went on a 14 month rollercoaster ride of trying to buy it and being let down we couldn't plan anything like me closing the business down or clearing the land behind my old house. We didn't know it was ours until the last minute. This has meant trying to get some important jobs done on the house and leaving everything I own (which isn't in a house) and then slowly dragging it over here when i've created some space for it.
I'm now in the process of clearing what must be approx 15 tons of stuff from my workshop, stock, cars, machinery, tools & equipment etc.
I'm mentioning this as that's the reason it all looks a bit poorly organised, it's been like spinning plates and i'll be glad when everything is here and I can get stuck in, hopefully by the end of this month.
When you've got 20 jobs which NEED DOING RIGHT NOW and before the weather breaks it's difficult to choose which one!
If you're localish you'll know the A644 is littered with
Saturday morning and they were sat round the corner from that one way junction the b
ds.Regarding damp and treatment, there are a few ways to go.
As the house isn't listed and hasn't any really interesting features inside I just want it tidy, maintenance and damp free. All the architectural character is outside and it can stay that way. Some people think they have to live with damp, I don't!
You have to consider what actually caused someone to spend thousands on trying to fight off the damp. Unless you can contact the people who started the unfortunate chain of poor preventions you'll never know what it was.
A very rough rule of thumb bandied about is that damp solid walls will dry out at a rate of 1mm per month.
One niggle I have is that we have a faulty rubble filled wall. Faulty in that either from being built or erosion over time has left the walls with fissures going straight through which enable water to travel through. To fix that would be an enormous cost and not DIY.
I think i'm going to opt for creating a room within a room. That is, treat the outside of the house walls in the traditional way so it looks and acts as it was built to do. On the inside i'll strip all the gypsum and whatever else is lurking under there off and put a Newton membrane (or similar) on. This will allow me to vent the wall from top to bottom and it can do whatever it likes behind there whilst we're warm and damp free inside. It would be good to have some traditional finishes inside like lime plastering to bring in some character, but i'm thinking not at the moment.
We have plenty of Cloughs and Soughs, I believe the latter can be pronounced soff or sow (pig), but am no expert!
Hot composting stack has paused at 37, but it's 57 in the PT.
More pics and chat about actually doing something to come later....
Edited by Evoluzione on Friday 15th October 13:45
Some people will know, some not - Stone slate roofs are beautiful, old, expensive and heavy. The weight of them helps in exposed areas as the wind can't lift them, they're laid on timber battens and have a hole through them, a tapered wooden peg went through this and behind the batten to stop them slipping off, very simple, very easy. The problem is the wooden pegs can get brittle, rotten and snap off, the slate then slips down. Newer versions of pegs are made from aluminium or plastic.
I'll post some pics next time i'm in the loft.
When they were laid there was no felt or membrane to stop insects, dust and snow blowing through so they pointed them from the back in the loft with lime, this was called 'torching', it wasn't great as it often dried up and fell off hence being replaced by felt.
It did make a draughty loft though which on the whole kept the timbers dry and free from rot. This is the line many of us tread with our houses: Old, draughty, healthy? Uneconomical to heat V Sealed up, healthy? Economical. Old damp houses are said to be unhealthy, as are new ones...
The main roof of the house has been the better quality job overall, although it does have its issues, much of it has been untouched since laid circa 120yrs ago.
The other roofs on the various newer extensions are poor in comparison, they've sagged, leaked and were laid at too low a pitch to begin with in an area like this. They are littered with the signs of past struggles to stop them leaking.
I did a bit of tidying up near the chimney, wonder how old that Boots bag is? Shoved under to fill a hole:
I have a bit of an unorthodox way of sweeping chimblys, I leave the bottom sealed, go up on the roof and drop the brush down. If I was doing it regularly i'd probably do it the usual way, but this is only the second one i've ever done and I usually do it when I'm up there doing something else anyhow.
My dad was something of a hoarder, since circa 1970 they lived in a house with a gas fire, yet luckily he'd kept some chimney sweeping brushes. Family heirloom:
Looking a bit worn there, but they'll do. They're actually bamboo canes with threaded pieces fitted to the end, it did the job anyhow:
Bleeuurgh.
I have an old Vax I picked up for nowt years ago, I use it for vaccing out chimblys and various bits and pieces at work like sucking metal shavings out of cars etc. It stinks of soot when you turn it on, anyhow I got busy sucking the stuff out of the base of the chimbly.
I turned round part way through proceedings to find i'd filled the dining room and lounge with clouds of dust. Turns out the bag had split and the backup filter had come undone too due to the excessive amount of dirt on it.
Problem was the OH was holding a Prosecco party the next day so I wasn't too popular. I did sling that horrible cheap stove out though and drag my old Stovax in.
All was forgotten when we fired it up tonight, even the visiting MIL was warm for a change.
Daft cat was curled up in a tight ball upstairs in a cold room, unaware of the delights down here until I brought her down:
'What do you think?' 'Not bothered. Still making my mind up.'
Might be alright, i'll tell you later.
I'll post some pics next time i'm in the loft.
When they were laid there was no felt or membrane to stop insects, dust and snow blowing through so they pointed them from the back in the loft with lime, this was called 'torching', it wasn't great as it often dried up and fell off hence being replaced by felt.
It did make a draughty loft though which on the whole kept the timbers dry and free from rot. This is the line many of us tread with our houses: Old, draughty, healthy? Uneconomical to heat V Sealed up, healthy? Economical. Old damp houses are said to be unhealthy, as are new ones...
The main roof of the house has been the better quality job overall, although it does have its issues, much of it has been untouched since laid circa 120yrs ago.
The other roofs on the various newer extensions are poor in comparison, they've sagged, leaked and were laid at too low a pitch to begin with in an area like this. They are littered with the signs of past struggles to stop them leaking.
I did a bit of tidying up near the chimney, wonder how old that Boots bag is? Shoved under to fill a hole:
I have a bit of an unorthodox way of sweeping chimblys, I leave the bottom sealed, go up on the roof and drop the brush down. If I was doing it regularly i'd probably do it the usual way, but this is only the second one i've ever done and I usually do it when I'm up there doing something else anyhow.
My dad was something of a hoarder, since circa 1970 they lived in a house with a gas fire, yet luckily he'd kept some chimney sweeping brushes. Family heirloom:
Looking a bit worn there, but they'll do. They're actually bamboo canes with threaded pieces fitted to the end, it did the job anyhow:
Bleeuurgh.
I have an old Vax I picked up for nowt years ago, I use it for vaccing out chimblys and various bits and pieces at work like sucking metal shavings out of cars etc. It stinks of soot when you turn it on, anyhow I got busy sucking the stuff out of the base of the chimbly.
I turned round part way through proceedings to find i'd filled the dining room and lounge with clouds of dust. Turns out the bag had split and the backup filter had come undone too due to the excessive amount of dirt on it.
Problem was the OH was holding a Prosecco party the next day so I wasn't too popular. I did sling that horrible cheap stove out though and drag my old Stovax in.
All was forgotten when we fired it up tonight, even the visiting MIL was warm for a change.
Daft cat was curled up in a tight ball upstairs in a cold room, unaware of the delights down here until I brought her down:
'What do you think?' 'Not bothered. Still making my mind up.'
Might be alright, i'll tell you later.
Thankyou for your comments, they are well received as ever.
BTTN, to be pedantic you aren't on the other side of the Pennines, you're further up, at the neck
'Tis the spine of England.
Your current situation sounds a little stressful, but look upon it in a positive light. You're certainly getting about which must be quite interesting and educational too. Being a Yorkshireman i'd love to hear about living in Swaledale.
I suppose there are are different reasons for not being good at something, maybe just not cut out for it or not genuinely interested, not getting the right training is another. I've already seen a dry stone walling course we'll do in the future, but we've also done candle making (as a birthday present for the OH as she likes crafty stuff) and an intro to stone carving. The cat already has her headstone finished
I'd never heard of a bank barn until now, so am better educated, I'm not sure what we'll do with ours yet.
Poor FIL gets plenty of work put his way when they visit, he likes to keep active though and so do I, if we didn't do it we'd seize up.
SB thanks for that stone link, there is a huge amount of useful info on there including a Yorkshireman going through how to put a stone slate roof on, right through to pointing up the rghidge with his trghowel.
The frost stone splitting stuff is great too, very interesting.
BTTN, to be pedantic you aren't on the other side of the Pennines, you're further up, at the neck
'Tis the spine of England.Your current situation sounds a little stressful, but look upon it in a positive light. You're certainly getting about which must be quite interesting and educational too. Being a Yorkshireman i'd love to hear about living in Swaledale.
I suppose there are are different reasons for not being good at something, maybe just not cut out for it or not genuinely interested, not getting the right training is another. I've already seen a dry stone walling course we'll do in the future, but we've also done candle making (as a birthday present for the OH as she likes crafty stuff) and an intro to stone carving. The cat already has her headstone finished
I'd never heard of a bank barn until now, so am better educated, I'm not sure what we'll do with ours yet.
Poor FIL gets plenty of work put his way when they visit, he likes to keep active though and so do I, if we didn't do it we'd seize up.
SB thanks for that stone link, there is a huge amount of useful info on there including a Yorkshireman going through how to put a stone slate roof on, right through to pointing up the rghidge with his trghowel.
The frost stone splitting stuff is great too, very interesting.
tokyo_mb said:
Keep taking photos of the progress. When it gets to the point that progress feels like it is too slow, it’s great to be able to look back on where you started and see the great progress you have made. I did promise to do my own build thread once - but never quite got there. Appreciate the effort you are making keeping lots of strangers on the internet updated with your progress!
Thank you and I did just that - read my own thread from the start to remind me of how far we've come and the great comments and advice made by others.I really don't mind people telling their tales either, it's all very welcome and good to read. You never know what your words might trigger for someone.
Having the stove on is putting some warmth into the fabric of the building, it feels less cold coming downstairs on a morning.
The combi boiler (unsurprisingly!) didn't work properly. When the heating was on it over pressurised and pushed water out of the safety valve. Pumping up the exp vessel didn't last long so I ordered a new one for about £40. Due to its location it was an easy job, all done in 20 mins, so going into Winter at least we have two sources of heat now.
And many, many tons of wood.
The old trailer has taken a real beating I had to weld it up a few weeks ago and replace two wheels, the old ones were like 50p pieces now after hitting the holes on the narrow moor roads. Once everything is moved over it'll be demoted to local duties only as it's not longer fit for purpose.
The only issue with the wood piles will be stopping the tarps from blowing off or tearing. I think I may go down to the nearest towns carpet outlet and ask to raid their skip, a big old wet carpet will stop the tarps from blowing. This is the main problem you see (anywhere), the incessant wind tugs and blows at loose coverings 24/7 until they tear or give up. If you can hold them down to stop any movement they'll last a lot longer - until I find time to build some proper log stores, but the IBC cages will do for a while.
Something is wrong with the latest hot composter, it got up to 34, but is now on the way back down and i'm really not sure why.
The differences between No.1 (at 65'c) and No.2 (at 34) are that the second one got air to the bottom, sides were insulated and the ambient temps are much lower.
I think i'll just have to stick to one use for my hoss muck for or a while and visit hot composting at a later date. I've got a book on it and they recommend wood mulch, that is bits of branches etc, torn and squashed, not so much wood chips. This aerates the stack which is covered in straw bales and they run for 6 - 12 months.
Someone in an Autogyro circles around the area now and again (probably looking for lost cats) which (in my ignorance) I thought was a home made helicopter and I could think of nothing more dangerous. However on pointing it out to the FIL he set me straight. It's some kind of cross between a plane and a 'copter, the propeller on top is turned by the wind. It sounds like black magic or a perpetual motion machine, Wiki article here if interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro
3 Paramotors came over quite close and one went really low:
Hmm, want one
Have also pondered over a Paraglider, maybe one day. Wouldn't it be great to fly over to meet your old friends & family in 20 mins, I suspect you're a bit restricted where you can fly and land though. As part of our midlife crisis I once booked the OH in for a 'flying lesson' via one of those voucher sites. I absolutely recommend it, it was a great evening out.If you hate your OH then you can send her up in a stunt plane.
Oops, this being PH they're inverted, I swear I didn't send her up in a stunt plane.
Here is your plane:
It does this:
Off we go:
Take the controls : (we're in a straight line now). This is York, where would you like to go? Well over our houses obvs! So he requested clearance from LBA which was surprisingly granted and off we went. I'd already primed my parents and they were waving in the garden. How cool is that for so little money?
It's all out there and doesn't cost much really, grab it and do it before you get too old.
Edited by Evoluzione on Sunday 14th November 21:52
Weather, wildlife and exploring an old farmhouse.
It got windy for a bit in October, we woke up one morning to chairs scattered around on the patio, bin lids lifted and it took hold of my old glassless greenhouse frame, turning it right over. The forecast said it had been just 1mph lower than force 10 classification.
More proper force 10 is forecast this Saturday with a possibility of snow.
Coal and blue tits, Wrens and a Robin have been hanging around near the house since it got colder, especially when we had frost so I put some food out on the bird table for them, dried mealworms on order for the robin. This wasn't taken by me, but more on him later:
I've also noticed a big gang of Fieldfares around. I've seen them flying around before, but had to wait until they were stationary and I could get the binoculars out to ID them.
I wondered where the brown owls were roosting now the leaves have been blown off most of the trees. Our closest neighbour has an evergreen (Laurel I think) tree so I looked in there. Saw nothing, but that doesn't mean anything as they hide really well despite their size. Sure enough when I tugged on a branch off they went. I mentioned it to the neighbour and he says the tree will stay, will have to look into providing more evergreen cover for more and other birds on our land in the future though regardless. It's handy to have the space to grow a leylandii or a giant Sequoia or two - if they'll cope with the wind that is. Winter is the time to plant trees so will have to get busy with that soon.
Mice have moved into the first floor void, I have no idea how they get up there. They're in the barn too and have been gnawing on various things stored. I set a trap, but the light fingered buggers took the food a few times and didn't trigger it. I oiled the mechanism and failed again. Finally I studied the trigger a bit more carefully and realised If I filed it a bit to take off a sharp corner it would activate more easily. It worked, two destructive mice caught so far. Will have to look into preventing them getting there in the first place, but given they're somehow getting in the house I don't think i'll stand much chance with an old barn.
Out of interest many old barns have openings left in the gables, these were not just for ventilation, but also for barn owls to get in and roost. Not only did they shelter in there, but also kept the rodent population down.
I found this old farmhouse nearby in a history book:
So set off for a look and managed to find the exact spot the photographer took the shot from. It wasn't too difficult, a bit of looking and comparing and I found an old footpath up the hillside which he must have come down, just to the side was a small flat area where he stood:
Sadly it's been uninhabited for over 150 years and has been pillaged for materials. The ground floor stone flags are gone as is the roof. Look closely at the amount of wear on the remaining top and bottom step, that's a lot of foot traffic even if they were clogs or hobnailed boots.
It's also where the barn owl lives so can get some trailcam shots. If I was patient enough, had the right equipment and knew how to use it I could sit outside and get some shots of it heading out.
Trailcam shots it is then
I could see that where the extension roof meets the house wall it had been the site of many a battle over the years, with limited success. Various bits of different pointing, sealants and even some plastic strip had been inserted at various places.
I'd hacked off a bit of the cement pointing above the right hand end which revealed some deep holes, unsurprisingly it then pissed in when it rained (sideways as it generally does). I got the filler foam gun out, pushed it in up to the hilt and filled the holes to a certain depth. The lime zealots would have been apoplectic.
When that had gone off I filled the rest with lime mortar.
I bought some pre-mixed for a bit of a play around and test to see how it looked and acted. I've settled on a Hydraulic (NHL3.5) with some colour to tone it down. 2 is soft, 5 is hard.
It's a balance between exposure and the hardness (porosity) of the mortar and stone. The house has spent a long time with OPC on it which has caused no external damage so it'll be ok.
It isn't a great time of the year to be pointing in lime, but the one selected sets quick and i've covered it over with a bit of carpet to protect it from wind (drying it out too quick), the rain from washing it out and frost damage. Damage from cold has to be considered carefully, if it fails it's not much of an issue to rake this small bit back, but if you were doing a whole house in Winter then tread carefully. Although the walls of a building don't get as cold as it does further away so it's a touch safer than doing a garden wall etc. The lime zealots always use hessian, that's because the old builders always used it and they've never questioned it since. I'm sure they used it because it was handy and cheap, a bit like an old piece of carpet or some old curtains....
I studied some pointing trowels on display at the lime merchants and reckoned I could save a few quid. Sure enough when I got home I dug out a 3 old mastic trowels and rounded the ends of two on the grinder. I don't think they'd get any further use as mastic trowels as those days are long gone.
These are the basics needed for pointing; pointing trowels (they have various other names), bucket trowel for mixing and churning brush for finishing it off. Out of pic is either a hosepipe or water sprayer and bucket, i've been using the bucket trowel to carry the mortar to the wall for this bit, but you can also use a hawk or even the back of a float. I've just gone over the fundamentals for this thread, shout up if you need more detail.
It was supposed to be grey, but looks a bit pinky to me. Will let it dry, but I think i'll be getting something a bit more biscuit coloured like it was originally. At £15 a bag for premixed it'll cost a fortune, so i'm going to find out where to get the correct type and colours locally and mix my own. I'll do some samples over Winter then buy in bulk next year when i'm ready to do more.
I found some kind of pulley wheel high up on the hill behind the house, I wonder if it was used to lower materials down when it was being built:
Would love to know what the fixings were holding on.
deadtom said:
brilliant updates as ever EV, thank you for sharing so much of your work.
How easy do you think it is for someone with zero experience but who is reasonably practical to teach themselves basic pointing with lime mortar on stone walls?
The exterior of our house is in need of repointing in places and it definitely feels like the sort of thing I should have a go at myself.
We'll get back to the wheel later, but for now:How easy do you think it is for someone with zero experience but who is reasonably practical to teach themselves basic pointing with lime mortar on stone walls?
The exterior of our house is in need of repointing in places and it definitely feels like the sort of thing I should have a go at myself.
If you're the type who will sit and research the heck out of something then yes, it's very accessible to the DIYer. Visually it's much more forgiving than OPC pointing. One tip on what you've said though is if you can avoid patch pointing and do the whole lot then it'll look a lot better, because getting a perfect match is impossible.
If you do patch and accept it'll look like a patch then there are matching services available which will get it as close as possible, you can buy bags of different coloured pre-mix with what you think will do. Or like i'm going to, make a mix from locally sourced materials. Find out if you have a local supplier because ordering online is expensive, it's bulky and very heavy so a 25kg £15 bag picked up with be £30 shipped.
What lengths you go to are totally down to you of course, there was some chat about DIYing and a book earlier on in the thread.
Do your research, go to the usual places - get a book or two, go to FB and YT, get some pics and description posted up and we can talk about it here. There is even a free online seminar you can take part in with a Q&A at the end, it seems to pop up every month or two.
It's all out there for the taking, you just need the time and enthusiasm because the tools don't cost much. If starting from scratch to chip off and repoint you could get tooled up for somewhere around £50 - £100.
Last nights hard frost is certainly bringing the birds to the table, a woodpecker and what looks like a Finch with a red breast visited this morning amongst the other regulars. Had a little white flash on either wing and the red colour went from it's beak down to it's legs. Not a Bullfinch, Chaffinch perhaps?
We've put it in the best place for viewing, but worst place for taking pics. The sun is right behind it in the morning when they visit, will sort something out and maybe put the wildlife cam near it later.
Loads of brilliant (professional) pics to come later from our Falconry event a couple of weeks back.
We've put it in the best place for viewing, but worst place for taking pics. The sun is right behind it in the morning when they visit, will sort something out and maybe put the wildlife cam near it later.
Loads of brilliant (professional) pics to come later from our Falconry event a couple of weeks back.
silentbrown said:
Evoluzione said:
Last nights hard frost is certainly bringing the birds to the table, a woodpecker and what looks like a Finch with a red breast visited this morning amongst the other regulars. Had a little white flash on either wing and the red colour went from it's beak down to it's legs. Not a Bullfinch, Chaffinch perhaps?
Or possibly a redwing. You can get flocks of them scarfing rowan berries at this time of year. 
Chaffinch is sort of pinkish all over.
'You need to live it a year lad before you make any decisions'.
It's a bit of a shame we don't see much of the trees turning into their Autumnal colours up here, they just get blown off before having much chance to turn. We don't have a lot of trees, next door has an unruly walled copse (which I have to admit i'm a bit envious of) and a few others dotted around. Because of this the deer don't come up here.
On our land are quite a few gnarly old Hawthorn and other various weather beaten old specimens. Some have been blown over onto their sides, but keep on growing providing food for the wildlife.
In ancient times the whole lot was forest, but as mankind discovered the value of wood for building and heat they came down. In their place was open land to grow crops, to graze sheep and cattle on.
This means a lot of historical artefacts have been lost, In the Neolithic period the evidence of those was left behind, the forests removed and moorland has replaced them so all of the evidence is now buried under thousands of Sqm of deep peat, soil and heather etc so is nigh on impossible to find. It's very rare, but some does resurface, mainly if the water has eroded the topsoil over where the evidence is contained.
I'd (wrongly) thought that we would only truly use or need a 4x4 on the odd occasion when it snowed, but I think we're going to need one in the future full time - just to cope with the terrain. Her car has another split in the sidewall of a low profile tyre, the van has two blown rear dampers, a spring and the trailer many a buckled wheel. In the main all caused by the state of the roads around here. I can't pull the trailer out when it's fully loaded if the rain has loosened the track (although haven't even tried in the dry yet).
The irony was strong here when I got stuck, the only thing which could have pulled me out was on the trailer! It was on there as I was taking it to my old workshop to give it a once over underneath and a service before Winter.
That was about an hour wasted. I was on my own, so in the end I took Terry off the trailer and coupled it up, dragged the trailer up to a layby. Walked back, drove the van up and swapped it all over again before setting off
Well we weren't going to be eased in with a mild Winter were we? Straight in at the deep end and like many we had a bit of snow recently and it's cold, 4" fell overnight on Friday so not much really given where we are, but enough to make things a little difficult. It's around zero during the day, dropping to -4 at night.
The OH sells her wares at a church Christmas craft stall, it was cancelled last year and muchly reduced this year, but she was ready to go. Sadly she'd loaded up her car the day before and then couldn't get out. The phone and internet signal has vanished in the night too so couldn't contact anyone to tell them what was going on, nor did we know what was happening elsewhere in the World. Hopefully someone had seen her snow pics on FB the night before and realised.
I'm currently loading this page up sat in my van at the edge of the yard as it's the only place I can get a signal, the mast has been effected by the snow and/or wind.
I was unloading the van in the yard and the wind was whirling around, I kept hearing voices now and again on the wind, but because of the varying directions* couldn't tell where they were coming from. I finally guessed they must be from the road high above us, given the conditions It was probably best I take a look, so I fired up Terry and powered through the freshly fallen snow up the track. This was the scene:
They knew what they were doing building our house facing South halfway down a hill. Whilst it was just a bit breezy down there it was blowing an almighty gale up at the top. I could barely open the car door and my face was burning from the cold North wind in no time (Balaclava on the wanted list).
The chap on the left was stuck and the pickup was a neighbours. I got the rope out and dragged the guy free, but the cars carried on coming, then stopping, then they were holding up the snow plough. Eventually they were all sorted out and the plough went back and forth over the moors.
The problems were it was relatively clear in the bottoms so people set off, not giving much thought to what it would be like up here on the tops. The road was down to one pair of tracks so when they met someone coming the other way this happened:
More various snow pics below, but * this discovery that the wind direction is all over the place even at one time is worthy of note. I was pondering over some kind wind turbine, but would have to think really carefully where it was sited. On the other hand, it's probably rare it comes from the North, it does usually whistle up the valley from West to East, the way all the trees are bent over proves this, hmmmm
Oh and mice eat soap, what the heck is that all about? No halitosis in this house, no sir.
The queue for the toilets at these festivals is always ridiculous:
Sorry for crap pic here, the background is wrong and it's taken at distance through dirty glass, but you can just about see the Woodpecker on the nuts:
It's a bit of a shame we don't see much of the trees turning into their Autumnal colours up here, they just get blown off before having much chance to turn. We don't have a lot of trees, next door has an unruly walled copse (which I have to admit i'm a bit envious of) and a few others dotted around. Because of this the deer don't come up here.
On our land are quite a few gnarly old Hawthorn and other various weather beaten old specimens. Some have been blown over onto their sides, but keep on growing providing food for the wildlife.
In ancient times the whole lot was forest, but as mankind discovered the value of wood for building and heat they came down. In their place was open land to grow crops, to graze sheep and cattle on.
This means a lot of historical artefacts have been lost, In the Neolithic period the evidence of those was left behind, the forests removed and moorland has replaced them so all of the evidence is now buried under thousands of Sqm of deep peat, soil and heather etc so is nigh on impossible to find. It's very rare, but some does resurface, mainly if the water has eroded the topsoil over where the evidence is contained.
I'd (wrongly) thought that we would only truly use or need a 4x4 on the odd occasion when it snowed, but I think we're going to need one in the future full time - just to cope with the terrain. Her car has another split in the sidewall of a low profile tyre, the van has two blown rear dampers, a spring and the trailer many a buckled wheel. In the main all caused by the state of the roads around here. I can't pull the trailer out when it's fully loaded if the rain has loosened the track (although haven't even tried in the dry yet).
The irony was strong here when I got stuck, the only thing which could have pulled me out was on the trailer! It was on there as I was taking it to my old workshop to give it a once over underneath and a service before Winter.
That was about an hour wasted. I was on my own, so in the end I took Terry off the trailer and coupled it up, dragged the trailer up to a layby. Walked back, drove the van up and swapped it all over again before setting off
Well we weren't going to be eased in with a mild Winter were we? Straight in at the deep end and like many we had a bit of snow recently and it's cold, 4" fell overnight on Friday so not much really given where we are, but enough to make things a little difficult. It's around zero during the day, dropping to -4 at night.
The OH sells her wares at a church Christmas craft stall, it was cancelled last year and muchly reduced this year, but she was ready to go. Sadly she'd loaded up her car the day before and then couldn't get out. The phone and internet signal has vanished in the night too so couldn't contact anyone to tell them what was going on, nor did we know what was happening elsewhere in the World. Hopefully someone had seen her snow pics on FB the night before and realised.
I'm currently loading this page up sat in my van at the edge of the yard as it's the only place I can get a signal, the mast has been effected by the snow and/or wind.
I was unloading the van in the yard and the wind was whirling around, I kept hearing voices now and again on the wind, but because of the varying directions* couldn't tell where they were coming from. I finally guessed they must be from the road high above us, given the conditions It was probably best I take a look, so I fired up Terry and powered through the freshly fallen snow up the track. This was the scene:
They knew what they were doing building our house facing South halfway down a hill. Whilst it was just a bit breezy down there it was blowing an almighty gale up at the top. I could barely open the car door and my face was burning from the cold North wind in no time (Balaclava on the wanted list).
The chap on the left was stuck and the pickup was a neighbours. I got the rope out and dragged the guy free, but the cars carried on coming, then stopping, then they were holding up the snow plough. Eventually they were all sorted out and the plough went back and forth over the moors.
The problems were it was relatively clear in the bottoms so people set off, not giving much thought to what it would be like up here on the tops. The road was down to one pair of tracks so when they met someone coming the other way this happened:
More various snow pics below, but * this discovery that the wind direction is all over the place even at one time is worthy of note. I was pondering over some kind wind turbine, but would have to think really carefully where it was sited. On the other hand, it's probably rare it comes from the North, it does usually whistle up the valley from West to East, the way all the trees are bent over proves this, hmmmm
Oh and mice eat soap, what the heck is that all about? No halitosis in this house, no sir.
The queue for the toilets at these festivals is always ridiculous:
Sorry for crap pic here, the background is wrong and it's taken at distance through dirty glass, but you can just about see the Woodpecker on the nuts:
Edited by Evoluzione on Tuesday 18th January 20:00
Thanks for the replies as ever
The changing of the seasons reveals more wildlife, the snow and freeze has certainly accelerated that and this came into view yesterday:
The stoat has partially killed a rabbit (maybe it had myxomatosis) and is trying to drag it back to its hole in the wall without much success due to it's size and the snow. I went over and put the rabbit out of its misery and pushed it against the hole. The Stoat carried on for quite sometime trying to get it in, but it was far too big.
I've mentioned before that we have a small spring part way up the banking above the house, it was the old water supply and is still running into some broken tanks up there. In order to stop it from cascading down the hill, making a mess and then flooding parts of the paddock I keep the tap in the yard permanently open so it runs into a drain. The tap recently stopped running and appeared to be blocked, now you wouldn't have guessed at that being the blockage would you?
Not the most beautiful of repairs, but it has cured a leak on the living room ceiling where others had failed.
Before:
After:
I chiselled and cut everything out so I could tuck it under all round, cut it to size and sealed it in.
It should have been done with a piece of lead, but:
I didn't have any and was not going to buy a full roll for that.
It would have taken ages to fit.
I had an offcut of roofing rubber
Whilst it'll last a long time, it doesn't really have to as we're hoping to put an extension on there.
I could trim it off a bit to tidy it up, It's just stuck down with sealant as I was finishing it off in the dark and lots of rain and snow was forecast. In the event it did snow heavily 24hrs later, has plenty sat on it and no leaks.
It reminded me of a tale my Dad once told me. He ran his own joinery business and set a rough looking bloke on once. He sent him off to fit someone a new front door as a test. The woman rang up complaining that the guy had nailed a piece of leather over the back of the letterbox hole to finish it off.
On asking the man why he'd done this he said he thought it was perfectly ok as his was like that at home and it worked fine.
The changing of the seasons reveals more wildlife, the snow and freeze has certainly accelerated that and this came into view yesterday:
The stoat has partially killed a rabbit (maybe it had myxomatosis) and is trying to drag it back to its hole in the wall without much success due to it's size and the snow. I went over and put the rabbit out of its misery and pushed it against the hole. The Stoat carried on for quite sometime trying to get it in, but it was far too big.
I've mentioned before that we have a small spring part way up the banking above the house, it was the old water supply and is still running into some broken tanks up there. In order to stop it from cascading down the hill, making a mess and then flooding parts of the paddock I keep the tap in the yard permanently open so it runs into a drain. The tap recently stopped running and appeared to be blocked, now you wouldn't have guessed at that being the blockage would you?
Not the most beautiful of repairs, but it has cured a leak on the living room ceiling where others had failed.
Before:
After:
I chiselled and cut everything out so I could tuck it under all round, cut it to size and sealed it in.
It should have been done with a piece of lead, but:
I didn't have any and was not going to buy a full roll for that.
It would have taken ages to fit.
I had an offcut of roofing rubber
Whilst it'll last a long time, it doesn't really have to as we're hoping to put an extension on there.
I could trim it off a bit to tidy it up, It's just stuck down with sealant as I was finishing it off in the dark and lots of rain and snow was forecast. In the event it did snow heavily 24hrs later, has plenty sat on it and no leaks.
It reminded me of a tale my Dad once told me. He ran his own joinery business and set a rough looking bloke on once. He sent him off to fit someone a new front door as a test. The woman rang up complaining that the guy had nailed a piece of leather over the back of the letterbox hole to finish it off.
On asking the man why he'd done this he said he thought it was perfectly ok as his was like that at home and it worked fine.
Edited by Evoluzione on Tuesday 18th January 20:28
There is lesser point to all of this if you can't share it, or use it to make other people's lives better in some way or another.
A few weeks ago some of the OHs family came to stay, the kids had lost their dad a year ago in a tragic accident so thought i'd better do some hands on bloke stuff. Actually, I would have done that anyhow regardless
The girl had recently gone all teenager. Her eyes lit up though when I said she could have her first driving lesson, so we took Terry around the fields and learned the basics. It's a good car to learn in, having a sizeable, very torquey lump and a low ratio box means you can set off quite easily without needing the accelerator.
Her younger bro' came along for the ride, he's quite a cautious young chap and happy to watch and weigh up a situation before joining in so was content enough in the back. To engage him a bit and bring some reality to the situation we took the chainsaw, I cut down some dead trees to keep the place tidy and we dragged them back to the house behind Terry for firewood.
Typically as we had visitors the power went off at around 7 and didn't come back on until after bedtime, so it was an evening in front of the wood burner by candlelight. The head mounted torch I have and another super bright handheld one (thanks to the PH torch thread) were put to good use.
Also a few weeks back now was our falconry day. The Yorkshire Falconry club brought 5 birds and a couple of ferrets up to hunt the land. There were Goshawks, Harrishawks and a Red tailed Hawk.
The weather was perfect, birds and ferrets well behaved and all the guys very polite and interesting to talk to. O/H as hospitable as ever treated them all to bacon sarnies and mugs of hot tea n coffee whilst we sat in the sun and chatted.
I'd seen a local wildlife enthusiast and photographer on FB so invited him and his mate up too, most of the shots are theirs and as you can see they've certainly got an eye for a good pic, they aren't just pictures, they convey the love, respect and passion.
I posted this up earlier and those who know birds will have noticed how clever it is, for those who don't it is of course two robins.
The biggest problem of the day was lack of rabbits, we hardly saw any and caught none. I'm pretty sure the recent outbreak of myxomatosis has almost wiped them all out. Hopefully a few will survive and they'll be back in strong numbers once again.
Enjoy some (mainly) professional pictures for a change!
Dinner, but for who?
A few weeks ago some of the OHs family came to stay, the kids had lost their dad a year ago in a tragic accident so thought i'd better do some hands on bloke stuff. Actually, I would have done that anyhow regardless
The girl had recently gone all teenager. Her eyes lit up though when I said she could have her first driving lesson, so we took Terry around the fields and learned the basics. It's a good car to learn in, having a sizeable, very torquey lump and a low ratio box means you can set off quite easily without needing the accelerator.
Her younger bro' came along for the ride, he's quite a cautious young chap and happy to watch and weigh up a situation before joining in so was content enough in the back. To engage him a bit and bring some reality to the situation we took the chainsaw, I cut down some dead trees to keep the place tidy and we dragged them back to the house behind Terry for firewood.
Typically as we had visitors the power went off at around 7 and didn't come back on until after bedtime, so it was an evening in front of the wood burner by candlelight. The head mounted torch I have and another super bright handheld one (thanks to the PH torch thread) were put to good use.
Also a few weeks back now was our falconry day. The Yorkshire Falconry club brought 5 birds and a couple of ferrets up to hunt the land. There were Goshawks, Harrishawks and a Red tailed Hawk.
The weather was perfect, birds and ferrets well behaved and all the guys very polite and interesting to talk to. O/H as hospitable as ever treated them all to bacon sarnies and mugs of hot tea n coffee whilst we sat in the sun and chatted.
I'd seen a local wildlife enthusiast and photographer on FB so invited him and his mate up too, most of the shots are theirs and as you can see they've certainly got an eye for a good pic, they aren't just pictures, they convey the love, respect and passion.
I posted this up earlier and those who know birds will have noticed how clever it is, for those who don't it is of course two robins.
The biggest problem of the day was lack of rabbits, we hardly saw any and caught none. I'm pretty sure the recent outbreak of myxomatosis has almost wiped them all out. Hopefully a few will survive and they'll be back in strong numbers once again.
Enjoy some (mainly) professional pictures for a change!
Dinner, but for who?
snowandrocks said:
Great update and pictures as always.
About the 4x4 - yep, a typical 2wd van or car quickly becomes a bit of a liability in the winter especially if you hitch a trailer to it.
Even putting one wheel onto the verge with a heavy trailer on means you're going nowhere, and low slung plastic bodywork will always come off badly if you need to tackle drifts or put it into a ditch. Sooner or later you'll get caught out and need to get home through a flood or a blizzard and the 2wd will let you down even with winter tyres.
A decent pickup is probably the answer - about the cheapest reliable way into a proper 4x4 and the lower spec models are typically well specced for general rural use. Look for an active Hilux or a 4Work L200 and you shouldn't go too far wrong. You will still get it stuck but long, long after the van would have given up.
The van has taken a hammering because it's shifted maybe 50 tons of stuff just lately. I can forgive it blowing 2 dampers (at 80k) and getting stuck here a few times. Now I know it's limitations I just don't ask too much of it here and use the Terrano to pull the trailer around. Once i'm fully installed and all ties cut (in the next week or two) it won't move much, but still be invaluable. Because it has high profile tyres and good ground clearance it doesn't suffer like a car.About the 4x4 - yep, a typical 2wd van or car quickly becomes a bit of a liability in the winter especially if you hitch a trailer to it.
Even putting one wheel onto the verge with a heavy trailer on means you're going nowhere, and low slung plastic bodywork will always come off badly if you need to tackle drifts or put it into a ditch. Sooner or later you'll get caught out and need to get home through a flood or a blizzard and the 2wd will let you down even with winter tyres.
A decent pickup is probably the answer - about the cheapest reliable way into a proper 4x4 and the lower spec models are typically well specced for general rural use. Look for an active Hilux or a 4Work L200 and you shouldn't go too far wrong. You will still get it stuck but long, long after the van would have given up.
What will happen is her car will go. It's a 2 seater Peugeot convertible and despite being fairly reliable over the years it has nothing going for it in my eyes and she doesn't have much love for it.
Therefore we'll buy a 4x4 car she can use, i'll use Terry and the van.
What we'll get I have no idea. She'll want some comfort, we'll need something fairly rugged, selectable low ratio 4wd and LSDs, at least at the rear. It'll need a sizeable engine for torque, whether diesel or not I don't know, there isn't much between them these days, well, pros and cons. I suspect it'll only do 5 - 10k miles a year as we both WFH, she only does a few thousand work miles a year now, but when she does they can be long journeys.
One to avoid apparently is the Range Rover 3L diesel, someone was telling me they're dropping like flies due to some serious engine problem.
I wouldn't have any respect for a motor called 'Jimny' nor Dacia. I don't have any for her Peugeot as the MX5 is such a better car. Problem is when I have no respect or interest in a car I don't want to fix it. Landcruiser perhaps, but what about a Freelander or a Range Rover? Yeah I know I haven't said a budget so that makes it difficult. I'll often say '£5k' or whatever, then realise that won't buy me anything which doesn't require fixing every week so end up spending more, but wisely.
I'll go peruse some ads and see what £10k gets us.
I'll go peruse some ads and see what £10k gets us.
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