1. Built the cat enclosure and laid new turf to create a cat garden for them. Collected the cats from their holiday home in Dorset. Watched them gingerly walk across grass for the first time to stare in disbelief at the sheep in the field that borders our garden.
2. Donated several items of furniture to the North Devon Hospice, as this cottage is way smaller than our old home in Camberley.
3. Replaced the vile cooker and refrigerator, both of which had not been visited by the Cleaning Fairy for a very long time. Bought a combined washing machine and dryer because the cottage is too small to accommodate two separate appliances.
4. Had the oil tank installed and filled and the oil-fired boiler commissioned, so that after several weeks using the electric shower to wash and Kevin's Swan Boiler for washing up, we had the luxury of turning on a tap, from which steaming hot water gushed (the pressure here is phenomenal). First long soak in the bath was absolute bliss (big bath with a lovely view over the fields and the garden). The central heating gets connected next week, but with an 8kw woodburner, we may not need all of the radiators switched on!
5. Unpacked a number of boxes and visited the Anvil Corner Recycling Centre on numerous occasions with cardboard boxes and other detritus - some of which was left here by the previous owners.
6. Hung curtains, altered curtains on the old Singer machine (because the Bernina is in a box in the Conservatory, under lots of other boxes that still need to be unpacked!) and ordered new cushions for the sofas which are third-hand to us and the cushions are somewhat "stale, flat and uncomfortable". to paraphrase Shakespeare.
7. Started to get to know our neighbours! I have already been asked to join the Ladies Choir (first rehearsal for Christmas is next week in the Village Hall Bar) and another neighbour would LOVE me to join the local brass band - had to 'fess up that I haven't played the french horn in years, to which he blithely said 'Oh, you'll get your lip back in no time'. Have ducked out for the moment as studying two OU modules at once is likely to take up most of my time this year.
 |
| As you can see, we are sideways on to the road - this was taken when I first went to view the cottage. |
 |
| This is the view of the cottage from the garden |
 |
| This is the sitting room - the woodburner was installed last year and our next job will be to build and stock the log store! |
 |
| Hobbes has, as usual, claimed his place on the sofa! |
 |
| This is the view from our bathroom, just after sunrise |
 |
| Our big blue Land Rover 'SallyB' - the farmer kindly allows us to park her here, while we wait for planning permission to widen our access. |
 |
| The view from one of our bedroom windows. |
 |
| Paddy and Bearz in their purpose-built Cat Garden. |
 |
| This is the detached conservatory - once we have moved out all of the boxes, it will be my studio |
 |
| A view down the garden to the wildlife pond, taken on our third visit. |
We are two miles from the market town of Holsworthy, half an hour from my cousin in Hatherleigh and fifteen minutes from the coast at Bude. Exeter is an hour and fifteen minute drive (I will have my tutorials there) and both Barnstaple and Bideford are about 45 minutes away.
We have been so fortunate with the weather for most of our time here so far; the late summer allowed us to get so much more done. Now it has changed, Autumn is truly here and we have had torrential rain, gale force winds, thunderstorms and hail. The wind really wuthers round the cottage but it has been here for the best part of two hundred and seventy five years, so it is only those new additions (the greenhouse and the conservatory) that might see some damage.
The cottage IS small, but it has made us think about what we truly need to have around us and how we are going to live our lives from now on. And frankly, there is nothing better than waking up and looking out over fields, or down the garden after years of living fifty feet from a road used by traffic twenty-four hours a day
