Slowing Down...But not Forgotten.

Work slowed down from Late 2010. There was almost a full year when very little work was done on the house and few photographs were taken also.
In May 2010 I discovered I was pregnant again, Lily was just over 10months old when we found out and we were delighted and happy that we would have two kid so close in age.
Clint was here helping us work on the house.
Very tragically in Oct 2010 we delivered Isla Rose and unfortunately she wasn't meant for this world.
We needed to take time out.....
This Blog is not about our personal life and mainly focused on the house. I only mention our children as anyone with kids can understand plans can be changed and altered, and I feel I need to explain why there may be large lapses of time when the house was sitting stuck in a time warp and getting no love.
We found out we were expecting baby number 3 in December 2010
It was a shock, but a wonderful shock.
In January 2011, during a very very stormy winters night some very nasty people decided that our only asset (Our 2005 Touring Caravan) was worth stealing.
We woke to our caravan gone and our gates and old wall busted up....We had moved our Big Wagon to the top of the property and the little caravan was at the other end of the property with the house in between...so we didn't hear anything and in a way I'm glad we didn't.

We felt bruised from life lessons and exhausted..Lily was our shining light.

I have little to catalogue here from 2011, other than the birth of our healthy happy baby boy George on 2nd Sep.



On a twist of fate. Our good friends had a corrugated barn collapse and needed to dismantle it. We recycled the sheets and reused them to cover our roof, until we get our thatch in the future.

Ian painting the recycled sheets on the roof 2012.

 

We did do alot of ground work around here in 2011. Hector from Madrid and Danny from Argentina spent a few months here in the spring and helped get the sheets on the roof and whitewash the outbuildings.

 

Winter 2009/Summer 2010

On the 19th of December I finally convinced Ian that it was time to upgrade to a slightly bigger living space for us. We had been living in the touring caravan for nearly 3years and with no running water and no flushing toilet, it was starting to get tough. Lily was growing rapidly and had moved into our bed, which meant we had to pull out the bed at the front every night...It wasn't the worst living conditions. We had heat and food and beautiful grounds around us. But it was time to move.
Luckily we have a neighbour who sells second hand mobile homes and was sure he could get one into our little stretch of grass above the house and close to our septic tank, which meant a TOILET that flushed indoors...I could hardly contain my delight...
The Big Wagon arrived on the 19th December and on that day it started to snow, and snow, and snow......

This was taken a few months after the Big Wagon arrived.

Lily taking in the new view a few days after we moved in.

The House was covered and remained that way until Febuary 2010.

 

We were snowed in for weeks and working on the house was slow at this time as you can imagine. We still made plans of what we would do once we got a thaw.

 

In May we had Yuiko from Japan come and stay with us. She was with us for a month. The main focus was to get the ground turned over and the vegtables growing. No work really started on the house until July when Clint from California arrived.

Clint had originally come to Ireland to be an extra in The Game of Thrones, which was being filmed in Northern Ireland. He became a bit unstuck when he realised he needed accommodation and food to keep him here while the work came in...He stayed with us for nearly 6 months.

Ian wanted to make the roof fireproof for the new thatch that would be going on in the future.

 

 

Ventilation between the felt and the foil.

Bracket for kick board.

Then a mesh was laid over the foil to protect it from future damage.

All ready for some new thatch...If only we knew the best place to get it from.

 

Ian and I had been researching good sources for reed mainly due to it lasting the longest quality over flax and straw. Although not vernacular for this area, we want to have something that will look appealing and last a long time. Reed if maintained and good quality can last up to 40yrs.

 

We still have yet to find a good source.....2013.

We have 2 small add ons to the front of the house. Probably added about 150yrs ago. One is the front porch and the other has always been none as the "dairy." We made a doorway through from the house to the dairy which was previously only accessed from outside. This will become our new bathroom.

But first they needed new roofs and sticking with tradition, we needed some good second hand Bangor Blue slates.

 

 

Clint and Ian stripping the old roof and getting ready to replace the timbers.

View from the tall pine tree in the garden of the new roofs being replaced.

 

 

 

 

Reclaimed Bangor Blue slate going on the new roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorting the other half of the roof...2009.

As I said before, we were winding down for winter 2009/2010 but Ian was still anxious to get the other half of the roof covered.

 

 

Getting there slowly but surely.

 

End of Summer 2009

The summer had produced a new addition to the family (Lily) and also some new friends and alot of help. By the end of September the house was looking better and we were winding down for the autumn/winter and spending time with Lily, but also realising that our little caravan was just that..LITTLE...

 

I know what your all thinking, when is she gonna write the obvious Jack Nicolson quote from The Shining.....No, not gonna do it.

 

 

 

The beast that gaurds the entrance to the woodland. His eyes are made of onions.

We are thinking possible self catering cottage or youth hostel dorm...any suggestions welcome.

Cloth nappies on drying day.