Moving day for the fish

Unfortunately the fish pond needed to be removed as it was right in the middle of the site for the new house.

The fish pond before its annihilation.





The temporary 'pond' was set up in the back garden, behind our home and well away from the construction of the new house.





Some of the old pond water and the plants were transfered to the new, luxury 160 bedroom complex that includes room service, internet and digital HD - fish TV.





The pond water was slowly pumped out and the lining taken up gradually, making it easier to catch the fish. We put them in a bucket of water and wheeled them over to the paddling pool, their 'Winter home'.







We will be adding thermal protection to the outside of the pool to help against the cold weather and frost using old blocks and roof insulation.

The total count was around 160 fish, 5 toads and 2 frogs. They have settled in nicely.

Drought

Summer eventually arrived in July and with it was the good news that full planning permission had finally been granted. Hooray! Time for a trip to one of the local beaches.

Bossiney Bay









Alan snorkelling.







But the good news was short-lived.

Whilst the rest of Britain basked in the Summer sun we looked on in horror as the water level in our well began dropping rather dramatically.

As we suspected (and despite the contrary claims of the vendor) our well was simply not good enough.  And if it couldn't supply enough water for the existing bungalow with just one toilet and one bath, it certainly wouldn't provide enough water for the new build with three toilets, one bath and two showers.

The well is about eight metres deep. The water level in this picture is only about a metre and a half from the bottom. Normally, it is five or six metres higher than this (usually between the knotted orange rope and the blue marker on the black supply pipe).





The water level in our fish pond was also dropping rather swiftly and we resorted to emptying the rainwater from the water butts into the pond as an emergency measure.





Living without water is no fun, especially in such hot weather. We bought hundreds of litres of Tesco value water for drinking but were severely restricted with all everyday tasks. We were unable to use the washing machine and dishwasher, could only flush the toilet once a day (even saving cold bathwater to fill up the toilet cistern). Baths were few and far between, but luckily some friends five miles away kindly invited us to use their guest cottage for showering.

The decision was made for us, the plot needed a better water supply and a borehole was our only option...

Cutting down the Leylandii tree

The Leylandii tree at the back of the garden was very pretty and a welcome evergreen sight especially in Winter when everything else looked bare and miserable. However, it had grown quite large and was blocking the sun from shining on the house and garden throughout the day. Unfortunately, it had to come down.





Not too keen on using a big chainsaw whilst perched in the tree on a windy day, Alan used a pole-pruner (a mini chainsaw on the end of a long pole). This was safer, though it took several cuts to get through the larger branches.

The chopping begins...





The view from halfway up the tree whilst cutting it down. Note Blenny supervising the proceedings from his vantage point on the roof of the house.

 





Whilst Alan chopped the tree, I cut the chopped branches into more manageable pieces ready to be dried out and eventually burned.





We managed to salvage and store the larger branches for future fuel should we choose a wood burner for the new house. The amount of wood that the tree produced should give us at least a few months worth of fuel. There is more wood stored further on in the picture, behind the black metal oil tank. We want to do away with using oil for heating in the new house as it is costly (and the cost will only continue to rise).





The remains of the tree stump (left) and a clear, bright view.

Floods

The unmade track that leads to our house is tricky to negotiate at the best of times in our rather-impractical two-seater, but the heavy Winter rains can make it impossible. There have been several occasions where we found ourselves marooned. Luckily, our house is safe from flooding but the old ruined bridge along the track turns into a large pool. The depth of the water around the bridge is almost a metre.

This is the back of our house which overlooks a field.





This is after a few days of heavy rain.





The view from the back of our house with a perplexed sheep mirroring our feelings about the sudden expanse of water.





Some of the water drains out from the side of the field and out of our garden gate where it flows onto the track.



 



The bank separates the water from our garden though a small flow has broken through travelling towards and out of our gate.
 

Custard and Bustard

There is a friendly little semi-feral cat who lives around here that we named Custard.





The old lady that lived here previously, fed her on a regular basis so when we moved in we contuinued the trend, especially as our very own puss Blenny gets on with her quite well.
Then one morning another cat turned up. A big bruiser of a fellow whom we named Bustard (rhymes with Custard). Notice that in every picture he is pulling the same pose.









Since then we discovered that our nearest neighbours who live a mile further on down the track (a lovely couple) feed Bustard, so we don't need to worry about him. We've only seen him on a few occassions, so far.

Before and After

These are some of the estate agent shots of the house before we bought it...











And the mess we made of it afterwards...





Curtains were £8 from Tesco...that's right, £8. Alan laid the laminate wooden flooring in both the living room and the bathroom. The laminate had been left behind, unopened which saved us a bit of cash.

Decorating - for temporary living

We removed the carpets and underlay and 3 layers of wallpaper from every room. We washed the walls down with sugar soap. The sofa was taken to the dump amongst other large pieces of furniture also left by the elderly lady that had lived here, including a double bed with mattress and a single bed with mattress. We painted the interior of the whole house - the walls, ceilings and woodwork with 3 coats of paint including primer. Can't believe we achieved all this in a window of just 2 weeks before we moved in. It was exhausting.

 

Going to see the plot

The entrance to the track which leads down to the house.





Further on down the track...

...and past the ruined railway bridge.





A first glimpse of the house half a mile down the track.





The top of the house and a look back down the track from where we approached.





Further down the track looking back at the house.