We’ve had to spend considerable effort repairing and reinforcing the original stone walls. The internal wall was beyond repair and as it had to support part of the roof, it was decided that it would be better to rebuild it on a solid footing. The previously solid stone wall would go back up with blocks on one side and stone faced on the other (the future dining room side).

The original floor had to be carefully dug out and concrete poured in to provide some strength around the base of the walls. We’ve had to build new block walls inside the old ones. We’ll put insulation in the cavities and tie the two skins together with metal rods. The new blockwork will provide all the structural support because the old walls are not strong enough.

The new internal wall has to carry a large steel joist (5m) that will form the gallery landing over the dining room.

is a common refrain from family and friends. After three and a half years of waiting I may have become a tad dismissive of giving any dates.

In true building project style we have faced some serious adversities. After the serious planning concerns that dogged us for a couple of years (see old posts) we now face all those nightly little problems that I suspect any build project faces. Now there is simply a sense of relief that we are moving forward, but it is slow.

We do get frustrated when the builder doesn’t turn up, or when silly mistakes happen.  We are adjusting to having these noisy messy men on site as they are real characters, one of our favourites is Martin. A solid giant of a man, Martin has many characteristics that we have come to associate with a man who spends much of his life dry stone walling on mountain sides. He doesn’t have music blaring out, he thinks about everything and is a real pleasure to have on site. He is responsible for much of the new stone wall work. Sadly the other builders are less quiet, but they are entertaining

This last week has seen the block work go up inside the old part of the building. The builders have also sand blasted the old stonework and to our delight we have discovered some really wonderful stonework. We are starting to see the house take shape.

Whilst digging out the foundations in the older part of the building we discovered an interesting stone. Beautifully carved it is made of limestone and it looks like it was once part of a grander building. The number 56 is carved into the side. This will now be a fantastic feature in one of our internal walls.

So we progress slowly and we still don’t set dates for being in.  When people ask when we will be in we shrug, smile and talk about preparations for being in the yurt another winter.