Blog 7

I have just noticed that some pictures intended to go in the May Blog somehow got left out so here they are:

We found the well which once served the house. It is sited in what had until recently been the kitchen, but which at one time was outside. It is 4.5 metres (15 feet) deep and has 0.9 metres (3 feet) of clear water in the bottom. It is well lined with red sandstone and has a lead pipe which once served a pump. Unfortunately we cannot incorporate it into the new plan for the building, so we have made a reinforced concrete cap and floored over it. It is still there for future generations to find.

In Jackie Binding's fascinating account she mentions the office that her grandmother used. Here is a picture of it taken before I carefully removed it to store it in one of the outbuildings.

Jackie also mentioned the pantry. The rooflight that she mentioned can be seen in this picture. The pantry has now been removed.

The pantry

Jackie told me that her Grandmother sold the property to someone called Bright, who I believe did bed and breakfast. Perhaps someone can fill in this bit of the history? At some stage it became called the "The Old Coffee House".

Back to more recent developments:

We have now re-laid all the internal floors with damp-proof membrane, then insulation, then under-floor heating pipes, then five inches of concrete.

Concrete being laid over the underfloor heating pipes

Outside, we have had a digger in, moving many tons of rubble and the mound of earth at the end of the garden. It has also excavated the trenches to take the water and gas pipes, and the electricity and telephone cables. These will all have to be connected in the road in December.

Service trenches

We have removed the stair to the flat, and built the wall which will separate the flat entrance from the gallery.

We have removed the front upstairs sash windows to refurbish them They are in very good condition for their age. Ben is stripping off all the paint and sanding them for repainting. Most of the old 1/16 inch glass needed replacing.

Sanding the sashes