We hired our local post knocker to ram in the foundation posts for our new bridge.
The bridge will provide access for campers to tipi hollow. It crosses a steep fern filled gorge with a stream in the bottom.
The posts are made of chestnut that came from my parents’ woodland in Herefordshire (see Hope End House).
At six inches square, they took quite a bit of whacking!
We adore the snow, it seems to tap into a childlike desire to run around, slide down hills, instigate battles, dive into it… It is also so dramatic and the landscape is altered incredibly, wiping away familiar landmarks. Another magical transformation was at night when no torch was required simply because of the bright moon and the snow creating a monochrome day light.
The honorary Tamsin bench
The cold and dark of winter creates a number of challenges for us, including keeping the fire in over night, limited lighting, frozen water pipes, keeping the chicken’s water liquid..but it’s all a challenge and you go to the river and get water for the chickens from there, and you go back to the old washing round the neighbours again..
It has been bitter however the yurt has continued to keep us very warm and provided us with all the shelter we need really.
Our veg garden, on a slightly less optimistic note, is looking a tad sad. Plenty has died in the polytunnel which in previous years has seen us through, including our kale. The brassicas outside have turned to moosh from being under all that snow. The celeriac appear to have survived and the Jerusalem artichokes seem to be thriving…
The cats ..(especially for my aunt Judy!) are doing well.. Rusty is currently sat on my lap, leaking an odious smell one end and a purr the other.. Gilbert is also doing well.. he has had a bad eye all year from div
ing into the long grass (idiot) but this seems to be finally healing.
Finally onto the build.. we are currently waiting for the weather to be just a little bit kinder and to sort out the bottom of the drive before we proceed with the build. This winter has however been one of optimism and talking about woodburning stoves, back boilers, hydroelectric, underfloor heating, solar water heating, pantries, kitchens, sunrooms, floors…etc etc!
This is a bit of a blog for all our family and friends to keep you up to date with what we have been up to over the last 6 months, why we have been out of touch at times and what we will be doing for the next… who knows how long!
So anyway about 4 months ago we had accepted an offer on our house in Cardiff and were looking for a place to rent in west Wales. We had seen a lovely house in Llandeilo and in the afternoon went to casually look at a piece of land a bit further up the valley. It was out of our price range but was intriguing so we couldn’t resist looking. The owner had decided, however, that she would drop the price by enough for it to suddenly be in our price range. By the end of the day we had resolved to put in an offer and buy it. The last few months have therefore been a bit madcap! James was finishing his PhD and so the leap into this may have seemed more than a bit daft.
Our kind friends and family have helped us in many ways, from putting up with us and our mad cat in their houses, to storing our furniture and ridiculous amount of books and records. Our friends, Clayton and Dana who came over from America to go to our parents wedding anniversary party, even became our willing slaves for a week on the land!
Without them all this would all be even madder we’re sure!
So on the 29th of Feb we finally bought the place. A total of 9 acres of mixed land which has not really been touched in the last 40 years or so, a stream or few, about 5 acres of very rich, slightly clayey (is there such a word?), south facing field, the remaining 4 acres being a mix of woodland and open steep sloping meadow.
It’s a little piece of heaven!
We have been fortunate enough to be able to see the land go from the dark of December into the sunshine and snow of March. We have found bluebells, daffodils, snowdrops, foxgloves and unfortunately Japanese knotweed! The land is bordered on all sides by streams, but rises away from them, the barn is thankfully out of flood range by a good long way! The last week has been spent: climbing around in the brambles; exploring the range of the land; creating the platform for our yurt which we will be living in for the forseeable future; and getting the caravan up a crazy lane and track.
We will try to portray all of this in pictures as much as possible here.