Middlecroft Cottage

Building Walls That is right, the space invader is back... well no it is Richard and he is building the garden wall - the protective equipment is needed due to the lime mortar he is mixing. A few weeks ago, I showed you a photo of a wall that had fallen down in the back yard. Just a pile of rubble really, and we knew it couldn’t be left like that. So once Rich had repointed the front of the house (a special post by Rich on pointing will be coming up), he set about rebuilding the back wall. A little work in progress pic. And now the finished wall from both sides. He also cleaned away all of the rubble:) And after that is was time for a nice cup of tea in the warmth of the front bedroom. Due to work, I have not managed to get to the cottage very much the past two weeks, but I did manage to go last Saturday to meet Jascha and Christine to show them round and have a rather chilly socially distanced-picnic. That’s all for now. Next week we are going to start on the inside of the house, whic...

 More work on the outside Our cottage also has a shared back yard (see above), which is rather over grown and has various pieces of rubbish strewn about it. So while Rich continued to work on the pointing at the front and creating too much dust for me to paint, I started trying to make some in-roads in to the back yard. Although we managed to get a few weeds up last week, the photos below should really be classed as before as this yard has potential if it is loved properly. Rich hiding in the kitchen. This decorative wall has fallen down and will undoubtedly be another test of Rich’s masonry skills. After a good while, I got a lot of the weeds up and scolded some of the moss in the hope that I will be able to just lift it the next time I go over. I also managed to clean and weed the little planter. I probably should have just left it, as we might be throwing it out, but it had a little pansy in flower on it, so it felt like a shame to uproot it. And then it was suddenly getting dar...

The First Weeks Just next to the front door before any work We have had the property a few weeks now and it was clear that a lot needs to be done. While there is currently not much that can be done on the inside before the gas and electrics have been sorted, there is plenty to do on the outside. A lot of the outside work should be done before the winter sets in, giving the paint and mortar enough time to try out before storms and snow. While Rich has been at the cottage to meet electricians and plumbers, he has been getting on with the preparation outside, and I managed to pop over too for a bit of weeding and some exterior painting too.   Here are some “before” photos and work in progress photos. Small bed at the front in need of a big weed! Rich ordering some tools while admiring his well prepped plinth (notice the difference from the title photo already?) Rich getting to work on the pointing after finally sourcing the correct lime (it was like getting your hands on gold dust) So...

 Getting to know the Cottage (Front of cottage with Anne and Rhiannon) What is the first thing you do when you get the keys to new property (apart from heading to London for your sister’s wedding?) That is right, have a load of people over to look at it. And I have to say, it can be very useful, for example, we were a bit afraid of opening this cupboard: Scary cupboard with warning signs in main bedroom We needed someone really brave to open this up, so we got my parents over and Mam took on the task. Phew, it is just a cupboard Mam looks really happy, there was nothing behind the door! And then, Anne and Rhiannon came over from America so we had to show them round too (whether they liked it or not). We hope that Rhiannon will come round houses with us, if we ever take on another project like this, because she finds THINGS ... (It says, take care in all your affairs today) Some good advice left by the previous resident Rhiannon’s secret cupboard And during their visit, we also disc...

 Middlecroft Cottage Hello and welcome to our blog about our renovation project! We are going to document the work we do on the house here as a way of remembering it ourselves and also as an easy way of sharing with you what we are up to without boring you to death ... hopefully. The idea is that you can dip into it if and when you feel curious about what is going on. Here are a couple of first impressions of the inside of the property from the night we got the keys  - as you can see already at lot needs to happen to make this house a nice home again. Catherine xxx Upstairs hallway kitchen kitchen viewed from the breakfast area Living room