Time for a well earned break from renovating the house.  With many countries now going through a second wave of Covid we had our own wave – not Covid but people, a series of visitors planned over several weeks.   

Alex and Freddy were first in line.  Having been cooped up in London for months they couldn’t wait to visit and spend a few days by the sea, out walking and enjoying Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s invitation to eat out and save £10/head care of the government.   The weather was excellent and Alex even managed a dip in the sea but it didn’t last long…..mad!!   It was great to have them visit, especially mum who was missing Alex a lot, and the meal we had in the garden of The Ship Inn at Axmouth was very good.  Thanks Rishi!

Alex also brought us lots of goodies.  They have moved out of their home in London so that the builders could move in and, basically, rebuild the house with a new extension, rooms and kitchen.  This meant that most of their belongings had to go into storage so Alex suggested that his smart TV, several smart speakers, coffee maker and lots of other stuff could be better used by us rather than sat in a storage container.  We like ‘free’ and so now we have wall to wall sound, the smell of fresh coffee, champagne flutes and even some espresso cups to go with the coffee maker.  Thank you lads, we very much appreciate them.

In between visitors we still did the odd few jobs about the place especially in the garden plus looking into buying furniture for the living room and dining room.  The furniture arrived for the bedroom so we spent a few days putting it all together and are getting used to having another complete room to enjoy.  We also finally said goodbye to the caravan which was collected from the storage compound and shipped off to a new home in Spain. 

The following weekend we had more visitors from London, this time Neil’s brother Bill, and wife Sue, plus children and grandchildren – Kate and Scott with Maisy and Jack and Sarah with Evie.  Bill managed a paddle but decided that swimming was out of the question…..smart boy!  The kids on the other hand couldn’t stay out and thoroughly enjoyed playing around in the shallows.  It was just a flying visit as they were on their way to Tavistock for a weeks holiday but it was perfect to have a house full, all bedrooms occupied, kids running around the house and garden and beautiful weather to sit outside and BBQ, eat cream teas and drink cold beer.

No sooner had they all left it was time to plan for June and Roy to visit later that week.  The weather held and we ate our meals outside, went walking, enjoyed more food at The Ship and just generally hung out and chatted as we hadn’t seen them since December.

Now, why Perfect Day do you ask?  The Sunday of June and Roy’s visit was also Neil’s birthday.  Leanne had said that she would be coming down for a day or so which was fantastic news as we hadn’t seen her since February.  Neil had always hoped that he would see Paul, Miranda and our very first grandson too but they had to maintain strict Covid rules for several reasons so, realistically, he didn’t think it was going to happen. 

Unknown to Neil, about a week before his birthday Miranda contacted Cheryl about springing a surprise.  Leanne was also involved in the myriad of messages and calls that took place behind Neil’s back – he hadn’t got a clue that his wife of just 2 years was plotting!  June and Roy were also in on the subterfuge and almost gave the game away on a couple of occasions – yet again Neil didn’t put two and two together.

In the build up to his big day Neil was trying to put things together so that they could ‘do something’ after Leanne arrived.  ‘Let’s go to The Ship for lunch’, ‘let’s go on the tram and have lunch in Colyton’ and so it went on.   Cheryl was less than enthusiastic, June suggested that they should all just ‘hang out and have a BBQ’ as we had all got lots to talk about.  Once again, Neil didn’t smell a rat.

The day before, Miranda threw a curved ball and suggested a facetime chat sometime during the day to coincide with the eating, sleeping and playing routine.  Even on the day when Cheryl got a very large amount of lamb chops, burgers, sausages and chicken skewers ready for the BBQ he still didn’t suspect there would be extra mouths to cater for. 

After trying to be patient Neil was beginning to get edgy as Leanne was very late.  A secret prompt by Cheryl triggered a message from her that the motorway was very busy with ‘bloody caravans’.  Yet again, Neil proved what a loser he really is and why he didn’t become a detective – defective maybe!

Eventually a car finally came up the drive.  ‘Leanne’s got a new car’ said Neil.  Then he saw the registration as the car arrived at the back of the house.  ‘That’s Paul’s car!’ said Neil. 

Then it was out of the bag, actually out of the car, as Paul, Leanne, Miranda and our pride and joy emerged from the car.  We hadn’t seen them since December and Neil had always been worried that as it had been so long number one grandson might not be quite so receptive to this strange man.  He needn’t have worried as, albeit a bit overwhelmed by the occasion, he was happy to be whisked up into Neil’s arms.  Neil just filled up.

We had a great day, showing the family the house, opening a beer or two or was it more?  The BBQ went well and all the extra meat Cheryl had produced was consumed along with some that Miranda brought.  Then we ate cake…..mmmmm……yummy…….thanks Leanne.  Finally, we played croquet in the garden for the first time since we moved in.  It was the Perfect Day.

Well, we thought we’d spent a lot of time sanding and painting at the end of last month.  Think on!  This month has been torture, 8 hours a day 7 days a week of more of the same.  Worth it?  You bet.

We needed to vacate our bedroom for the works to continue so we managed to squeeze ourselves into bedroom 2 along with all the furniture from all the bedrooms. Chests of drawers, dining room chairs, spare beds stacked up, mattresses and pictures and mirrors.  You can see from the picture of Cheryl drinking her morning cuppa that we were literally climbing into bed.  However, it was for only 3 weeks and helped us make monumental progress this month. 

It started with Paul finishing off most of the plastering in the dining room, hall and in our bedroom.  We discovered more names written on the walls but not clear enough to be able to make out who it was but one was definitely dated 1957.  Cheryl stripped the wallpaper off the wall between our bedroom and the ensuite to reveal that there was an archway there many moons ago.  This was probably when the house was split into two apartments but we’ve given up trying to understand things in the house.  The stripping was going really well until one wall revealed the dreaded many layers of painted wallpaper lurking beneath the top layer……aaarghhh!  2 days later it was gone.

Then Climax windows arrived with our French Doors and proceeded to install them.  It took a few days but Andy the builder made very little mess and they now look great.  The area just outside is a real suntrap early in the evening so we’ve been making a lot of use out of the new doors.  

Afterwards Stacy arrived to remove and brick up the old door and he also brought Jake the chippy who started to install skirting and architrave to those naked areas.   Finally Paul returned to make good and plaster the wall in the living room.  Wow, we have a living room again.

This house has been through many iterations which means that the profiles of the woodwork vary.  In one case, the bullnose skirting in the kitchen varies from about 3’’ to 6’’.  Jake installed 3’’ to match the skirting in the pantry area but Cheryl decided it should match the opposite wall near to the door from the hallway.  ‘No problem’ said Jake, ‘I’ll get some tomorrow morning and fit it’.  So, next morning he wrenched off the low profile skirting only to get showered.  The day before, and without knowing it, he’d nailed up the skirting and put a nail through a hot water pipe.  It wasn’t his fault there was a pipe in the wall but we think his pride was hurt.  In hindsight, it was probably a good idea for Cheryl to want it changed as we would never had known until the pipe slowly began to leak, possibly several years down the line.

While all this was going on Imran and Paul arrived to fit the carpets to spare bedrooms and we managed to give ourselves a bit more breathing space by putting some of the chests of drawers and beds into the spare rooms.  It’s amazing how putting a bit of carpet down and putting a bed on top makes the whole house feel likes it’s lived in rather than a building site.  We also finally had rooms that were complete, curtains ‘n all – woo hoo! 

By now things were flying.  We were putting in even longer days to be ready for more progress.  The hallway, dining room, living room and our bedroom & ensuite were decorated.  Endless days spent sanding old woodwork, filling holes, more sanding and painting, painting, painting.   The dust and mess got everywhere, especially when the last remaining door downstairs was taken out so we could prepare the opening for the new ones to be fitted.  The new ones haven’t been ordered yet – but we’ve been living without doors for so long now we don’t even notice.

Finally the day came for the flooring installation.  The kitchen floor was a mess of concrete in the pantry area where the house had been extended years ago and the original old floorboards in the main kitchen plus another patch of very uneven concrete which was the base for the AGA.  The main floor was overlaid with plyboard and then the whole lot covered in a latex based screed to level it off and left to dry overnight. 

The next day the kitchen floor was fitted and the carpets laid to the living room, dining room and our bedroom. From chaos to order again, after lots and lots of cleaning and dusting. The bits and pieces of furniture look a bit lost in the rooms and we do need curtains, lampshades and all that stuff. We’re also looking forward to putting up some pictures on those very empty looking walls.

Now to move onto a completely different subject.  You will know that for the last 12 years we have escaped the UK winter overseas and spent the UK summer in our touring caravan.  We have loved living a mobile life, exploring some of the finest scenery in the world and been to places we’ve never been to before.  Alas, no more, our wandering days are over…..for now.  With the house project taking over our lives we decided to sell the caravan to concentrate on our new home.  Then lockdown came and we thought that that was the end of it, we’re never going to sell the van now.  Wrong!  It has been sold, for a good price, and it’s to become the winter residence in Spain of a newly retired biker from Durham.  It’s a long story, but he’s paid his money and he should be collecting it in early August.   

What a month we’ve had.  We had originally planned to take our time and do things in a sensible order but you all know what happens to the best laid plans.  We’ve had to grab whatever trades were available and when we couldn’t get a decorator we had to roll up our sleeves and get on with it.  From what seemed like ages waiting for things to happen we then went into a frenzy of activity to keep up with deadlines for fitters & deliveries.  We’ve had so much to do we’ve hardly left the house………..we got out more during lockdown! 

We now have a nearly normal house and realised yesterday that we last sat down in the living room at the end of February. We will get the new doors fitted downstairs but the rest of the renovation, including the main bathroom, bedroom 2, study and hall, stairs and landing will be done as phase 2. There’s still plenty for to do now but it’s the pleasant stuff like choosing new furniture and getting the finishing touches and a bit of colour here and there. 

Enjoy what’s left of the summer, take care and stay safe!

Its been all go this month – lots of plastering, endless sanding and painting, more stripping and finally the big news – we have a kitchen – yay!

Before we get to the details here’s a round up of our other news. The scaffold has gone but not before we installed some extra bird deterrents to keep those pesky gulls off the chimneys using spikes from Toolstation and some very special glue.

From what we understand they usually make a nest on our flat roof and also on the chimneys of Julia’s house next door. By means both fair and foul Neil has made their life a misery and they’ve decided to bring up their families elsewhere. Having said that, there is a definite dearth of seagulls everywhere this year which many people are putting down to the pandemic and the lack tourists leaving fish ‘n chip leftovers in the waste bins and for them to dig out. Whilst gulls come with the territory of living by the sea their absence is not missed by many people. We’ve also recovered a tiny fraction of the money we’ve spent. The old wood burner that was to become our fire pit actually got sold for £200…..bingo!

Out of the blue Neil received a letter from the NHS to tell him that he had been randomly selected to take part in a Coronavirus testing survey with Imperial College London.  He was advised that the test would cause some discomfort but that he would have his results back in less than a week.

The test was actually pretty horrid.  It can be self-administered  but when Cheryl knew that she could inflict satisfying gratuitous pain she insisted in doing it for him!  Head back, mouth open and poke a swab to the back of the throat, tickle the tonsils for 10 seconds hopefully without gagging.   She was very, very lucky not to get smothered in a projectile overcoat.  Pain still not over.  Now take the same swab and shove it up the left nostril as far as you can stand it and spin it 5 times then do the same up the right nostril. The results arrived a week later and you will be relieved to know it was all clear.

On the social front, as the lockdown has been slowly easing we met and socially distanced in Cliff Gardens with Glyn and Diane to celebrate his 65^th birthday.  A bottle or two of bubbly plus some snacks made a very pleasant evening overlooking the sea.  Sadly for Glyn he has to wait for another year before the pension fairy arrives in his bank every month.

We also had drinks across the road with Bob and Sheila and their neighbours Don and Pat.  At the end of the month we decided to host a BBQ for the neighbours of Ron the butcher’s homemade sausages and burgers.   The weather was great, hot and as the UV was forecast to be very strong it was all in the shade.  It was a great success although as you can see from the photograph we forgot one important thing.  This was to be the first real party/BBQ in our house so we carefully set up the camera so we could capture the moment.  The trouble was the event went so well we forgot to take a picture.

We still miss Phileas and Philomena but maybe when nature sees fit we’ll get some more pheasants in the future.  Whilst there’s not much more we can do to encourage them we are working on getting a rescue hedgehog.  Cheryl has been in contact with a local volunteer, giving money to her charity to smooth the way, and Neil has built three hog houses to put in the garden.  They’re easy and quick to build and once covered with logs and leaves they look very inviting and any self-respecting Hog would be pleased to call it home…….well we hope so.

There’s still no sign of life in the pond even after introducing some tadpoles.  We’re not sure what happened to them as the pond is well established with lots of oxygenating weed and lilies.  We keep on hoping and next year we’ll try again or, ideally, some amphibians decide to call it home in a natural way. 

We’ve previously reported that the garden has continued to amaze us with it’s flowers.  Now we are equally amazed with the soft fruit that we are picking from the fruit cage.  Masses of delicious raspberries and blackcurrants and we’ve just started to harvest our first tomatoes and cucumbers from the greenhouse and cucumber and courgettes from the garden.  The slugs have decimated the brassicas and something continues to steal the strawberries but, hey ho, you can’t have it all.

Renovation Update

Things have progressed a lot since last month. 

The hallway also revealed the name of another previous decorator.  As Cheryl stripped the wallpaper the name of Max Dack was revealed and signed on March 2^nd, 1997.    Neil sent a photo to Stacy Dack who did the chimney repair and fireplace move, and he replied ‘that’s my Uncle’!  

Paul, AKA Arnie, managed to get hold of 30 bags of good UK plaster and plasterboard which meant he was able to finish the 3 back bedrooms, the downstairs hallway and to board and plaster the ceiling of our bedroom and board the ensuite.  The plastering of our bedroom walls has to wait for more plaster and final paper stripping so we’ve moved into the last useable bedroom and just about manage to climb into the bed as it’s surrounded by stacked up furniture from all the other  bedrooms.  This chaotic order of events wasn’t in the original plan but we’ve learned to grab any trade and whatever progress we can during lockdown and put up with the inconvenience.

The living room also saw some action.  One wall is plastered but Paul needed help to do the ceiling.  Firstly, Neil signed up as an apprentice to help him board the ceiling and as it’s such a large surface he couldn’t manage the plastering alone so in came his brother Tony.  Tony is nothing like Paul, and just like the film Twins one tall and muscular and one short and average.  That didn’t matter to Tony as he arrived carrying his stilts and proceeded to get on with the job. The remaining wall can’t be plastered until the French doors are installed which hopefully will happen in July.

With Arnie gone we started on the mammoth task of painting, beginning with the messy mist coats on the back bedroom walls.  To make things easy we’ve decided to paint all rooms matt white so no decisions on colours or tricky cutting in required.  Great idea although we are starting to go a bit snow blind!  Another two of the Dack clan, Jason & nephew Jake arrived to re instate coving and skirting board where we’ve altered the doorways and removed the huge fitted cupboard.  That’s left us with the tedious sanding & painting the woodwork and maybe we are in spitting distance of getting something finished.  The carpets have arrived and are sitting in the dining room ready to be laid so we are under pressure to get on with the decoration.  

The big big win was the kitchen, delivered and installed….yes, yes, yes, after 3 months we finally have a kitchen!  The cabinets and worktops arrived at the beginning of the month and Paul Emmett arrived to do the fitting.  Within 2 weeks it was done but not before there was lots of grunting and groaning as Paul and Neil picked up the worktops and loaded them onto the bench for cutting and sanding.  Luckily Arnie was still around and was able to help out as well.  They are solid resin called Minerva which makes soft curved edges easy to achieve.  The drawback is that each 3m length weighs 100kg.  The joins are also easy to do.  They are stuck together with the same sort of resin and when sanded it’s virtually impossible to find them.  It was just as we envisaged all those months ago when we bought the house.  Each time we walk into the kitchen we just go ‘wow, are we tickled pink or what’?

An interesting footnote.  We kept a note of the last time we filled the car up with fuel, February 28^th. That means that in 4 months we travelled less than 400 miles.  What a difference a pandemic makes and, surely, now we must be on Greta Thunberg’s Christmas card list, home made of course and from recycled card and flown over from Sweden by pidgeon.

Fabulous weather, some progress and sad news

Two months on and life in Britain is still largely on hold.  We are both still fit and well and East Devon has had a remarkably low level of cases & deaths from Covid 19.  A total of 140 so far and, as we type this on May 31^st, no new cases for over a week.  People have been pretty good at distancing and very polite with a smile or nod to acknowledge when getting out of the way.  It’s probably the sunniest and driest May on record and it’s forecast to continue into June.  It reminds us of those endless sunny summer days you remember from your childhood.

The government is beginning to release the lock down guidelines which has meant more people taking trips to the beach.  Unless you’re very early, not Cheryl’s strong point, or very late, not either of our strong points, it’s too busy to walk the promenade. So we’ve had a good look at the Ordinance Survey maps and discovered lots of new footpaths and lanes that are almost deserted and if you do need to social distance it’s easy.  We’ve also noticed how much the air has cleared since lock down.  Portland, around 25 miles away as the crows fly, used to be visible on rare days and then only just in the haze.  Now it’s very clear considering the photo was taken on Neil’s phone rather than our camera.

We continue to try and support local businesses by getting beer from The Hat, home delivered curry from the two Indian restaurants and take away fish ‘n chips from Coast Café and Bar.  We’ve decided that Monsoon provides the best curry and the f&c’s from Coast are absolutely delicious.  We’ve also discovered that out favourite tapas restaurant, The Caper, is opening for takeaway’s in early June.  BBQ food, i.e. delicious homemade sausages and burgers plus minted lamb and other delights, still come from Ron the Butcher.

We have a few positive milestones to record apart from the weather.  You will be pleased to hear that Neil’s unfeasibly large piles have finally cleared up after only 5 months.  TMI? Not really, we are of course referring to the piles of bricks and debris after the walls came down.  We’ve been slowly barrowing and dumping them at the front of the house behind the hedge in the bank.  We’ve also lost a lot in the now completed raised beds in the greenhouse.  The greenhouse looks great, the yard looks great and the bank is well hidden from view. 

Sooty & Sweep

Before lock down we had agreed a price to drop flue linings into both chimneys and install a new stove while the scaffold was in place but the firm we chose had furloughed the staff so weren’t working.  However, we kept the owner informed as we completed the work to reopen the original chimney void in the living room and then the price started to creep up due to ‘this and that’.   With the work completed on fixing the leaky chimneys we were under pressure to get this last bit of work done in case the scaffold firm wanted to dismantle soon.  With the price creeping up we decided to sanity check the quote and found Stuart the Sweep, who was considerably cheaper and ready to start.

The sweeping went well, and it turned out to be very timely as the one with the stove which we used while the boiler was replaced was just one or two short of a potential chimney fire.  With the amount of soot released Stuart looked a bit like Dick Van Dyke when he finished!   

The flue liners were a different story.  The liner went in the top but quickly got stuck as it  appears we have a less than smooth bend in both chimneys and the 6” liner was too big and couldn’t even be pulled out without shredding it to bits.  Plan B was to come back again and try a 5” liner.  Fingers crossed he tried again but this wouldn’t go down either.  Dropping a camera into the chimney revealed a number of jagged edges to the bricks at various points making the use of liners, which is the current best practice for stoves, simply not possible.

We had three choices.  The first was to forget having wood burners all together and the second was to accept that we could have them using the existing chimney voids and have the chimneys swept possibly twice a year depending on use.  The third was to pay another £1000 for Stuart to hack out the chimneys from the bedrooms to clear the blockage with no guarantee it would only be £1000.  Having spent the last few months sawing, splitting, barrowing and stacking logs (around 20 cubic metres), which are now seasoning in the wood sheds, what would you do?  Certainly not pay any more.   So, we choose option 2 and now have two brand new DEFRA approved wood burners and the ugly old wood burner is set to be our fire pit for those colder evenings around the BBQ.  Hey, we like Stuart so having him back to sweep the chimneys is a bonus. Another big win is that the stoves are manufactured in nearby Axminster so we have supported another local business.

Now the scaffold can come down at last…..3 cheers!  It’s been up since the 19^th of March and almost feels part of the house but we can’t wait for it to go.  We did take the opportunity to go to the top to take in the views and get some great photos.

At the end of the month we heard from Paul the plasterer that he had got hold of some ‘alternative’ imported plaster.  Yay!  He also brought plasterboard and made a start on one of the back bedrooms.  Success was short lived as the plaster was rubbish – boo hiss.  He continued with the preparation of the spare rooms and parts of the lounge and hall for plastering  while we wait for supplies of good old British Gypsum plaster to resume.  Now that he’s boarded the ceilings and prepped the rooms it should be pretty quick once he starts.

Finally, with time on our hands once again we’ve removed the weird wall of glass and bricks between the loggia at the side of the house and the greenhouse.  It does look much better as one big space but we’ll really notice the difference when the scaffolding goes.  On another positive, Neil spent half a day breaking the glass out and half a day hammering the brick work with a rented masonry breaker and received zero injuries…..wow, that must be a first!

For those of you that are also checking their activity levels Neil’s average daily step level for the last month is over 15,000.  This relatively high step level, plus gardening and renovation work, has meant that at the end of this month we are both lighter than we have been since October 2018.  Yes of course we are pleased, especially as we have still enjoyed gin, beers and wine, but it’s not in itself anything to be too proud of as we shouldn’t have allowed ourselves to get to that weight in the first place!

Nature bites back

A few days after writing the last blog  with the picture of Philomena’s nest full of eggs we were aware that we hadn’t seen or heard Phileas.  Not unusual as he has wandered off for a couple of days before so we weren’t concerned.  Then suddenly at lunchtime on Saturday, Philomena who had previously been diligently sitting on her eggs all day, came running across the front lawn at a speed that Roadrunner would be proud of.  That’s not good we thought.

She did return about ten minutes later and worked her way back carefully along the boundary hedge to the nest.  The following morning Neil found her contentedly pecking her way around the garden.  It’s not like her not to be sitting on the eggs so Neil went to look at the nest…..empty!   2 days later, after being fed for a couple of mornings, she disappeared too.  We suspect it was a fox and that the cubs have been licking their lips.  Bloody nature indeed.

Life under lockdown, new discoveries and unexpected progress on the renovation.

Six weeks in and we have a new normal. Who would have thought that the nation would be obsessed with PPE, graphs and flattening curves? Reducing the R rate to below 1, standing outside on a Thursday evening at 8.00pm to clap for front line staff and a trip to the supermarket was the riskiest thing you did?  Could you imagine a war veteran raising £32 million for the NHS, have a number one record, a special postmark, a train and a boat named in his honour and achieve status of National Treasure all by his 100^th birthday?  Respect to Colonel Tom Moore.

When we wrote the last diary entry we were left in a building site with a ‘temporary’  kitchen set up in the hallway, all work ground to a halt and the realisation that this could be it for months to come.  We had just entered the strange world of lockdown and getting used to all that meant to daily life.

As you would suspect in the current circumstances there’s not a lot to report on Seaton life.  We’ve been enjoying our walks in what has been an extraordinary run of sunny weather, and we have been exploring some of the residential streets as well as the usual walk along the Esplanade.  The town has been pretty quiet and most are observing the social distancing rules with a friendly nod or hello as we pass by. 

Being selfless types we’ve done our bit to help any businesses which are still managing to operate.  The Ship at Axmouth has provided Sunday roasts, Gary at The Hat drops off beer twice a week and Passiflora delivered a vegan salad lunch and chocolate brownies.  It’s been tough but someone has to do these things!!  We also donated the face value of all the film night tickets we bought for the Gateway. 

Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 1

Our garden just never ceases to amaze us.  We knew the previous owners were keen gardeners and we are really appreciating the results of their hard work and considerable expense. It just keeps on giving week by week with magnificent blooms with a variety of colours.

With little prospect of getting on with the renovation we had time on our hands so decided to get some veg planted and use the greenhouse.  The garage at the top of the hill supplied a mega bag of compost and we found seeds in a shop in the town which mainly sells pet supplies.  The hunt for tomato plants lead us to a very small garden centre in the nearby Village of Colyton.  There’s a local Facebook page which has been great for finding out which businesses are still trading and helped when we needed a few more seedlings but didn’t want another trip in the car.  A very generous lady was offering her surplus plants for free and we collected ours from outside her house as part of our daily walk. 

We’re also  are getting to know the delivery guys by name and usually have a chat when they drop off a parcel.  Items from Toolstation, Screwfix in fact anywhere that will supply us what we need.  We’ve even got Mark the gardener to collect stuff for us as he lives in Honiton where most of the bigger shops are.  

With no chance of work continuing downstairs we focused on what we could do.  Cheryl has been busy stripping……..mmmm….. wallpaper that is.  Lots of it and mostly well and truly stuck and under several layers of paint…….she has the patience of a Saint.  The back bedrooms which had previously been low priority provided lots of scope for work. 

In the process she found some interesting writing on the wall of bedroom 3.  A signature was revealed beneath the fourth layer of paper. 

Tim Moulding had signed the wall while hanging the wallpaper in October 1957.  It was the tradition, in those days, (and possibly still is) when wall-papering, for the decorator to sign the wall beneath the last piece of paper he hung – which was obviously the case here.  We put his name into Google, found an obituary which led us to his son who is a local councillor in nearby Axminster.  When Tim came out of the air-force at the end of WW2 he worked for the family building contractors, R Moulding & Sons Ltd, as a painter and decorator.

We’ve also had time to start loading some of our old travel blogs onto this site. When we started back in 2008 we used ‘Get Jealous’ which was a popular site for travel blogs. We would like this site to be a complete record of our travels and change of lifestyle so over the coming months you will see these early years being added. Our very first blog – Chapter 1 Carpe Diem has been recreated under the previous chapters heading on the menu. If you would like to see where it all began, and have a snigger at Cheryl’s hair turning grey and Neil’s old teeth, take a look!

Reasons to be Cheerful – Part 2

We found that some of our local tradies were prepared to work as long as we kept the social distancing rules.  Hurrah!

The work to waterproof the chimneys got finished off and the builder, Stacy, was also able to open up the original fireplace properly and move the surround with only minimal damage to the stonework. 

Whilst he was doing it we found yet more evidence of workers from the past.  On the back of a piece of skirting board near the fireplace was a signature of W F Goddard, May 1960.  Sadly Google couldn’t help us this time. 

Before the redundant fireplace opening was sealed off, we decided to follow the example of the signatures we found and hide our own time capsule.  Our surprise package, should it ever be discovered in the future, contains lots of ‘stuff’ about Seaton in 2020, a leaflet on the local measures taking place for Corona Virus and a letter from us explaining what we have discovered about the house and why there are two fireplaces side by side!

The original doorway into the living room was blocked up and two dodgy bits of crumbling plaster & render hacked off, the cause of the damp fixed and the walls rebricked all now ready for plastering.  Stacy also had a chippy in the family and he came along to refix the door jambs for the two sets of double doors.  This is as far as we can go now with the living room as until the French doors are fitted to replace the existing window we can’t start on the finishing off.  We were on a 12 week lead time for the doors before lockdown started so we could be waiting quite some time for that to happen.

More excitement for us when the kitchen fitter wanted to know when he could start.  Slight problem, we said, was that even if the worktop manufacturer started production and Howdens started deliveries again, nothing could happen until the walls were properly finished off and most of the kitchen was re-plastered.  Well, he said, I was a general builder before specialising in kitchens, and, as I need the work I could do that for you.  Woo Hoo! 

He also managed to get the materials from the local builders merchant delivered the week before he could start.  The only downside was that due to the social distancing rules the delivery was to the bottom of the drive.  We had our daily exercise at home that day as we moved 20 huge sheets of plasterboard, several lengths of wood and bags of plaster up into the house.  We hacked the tiles off the walls and got the plumber back in to move the sink & dishwasher to their new position.  It wasn’t pretty but it would be functional for as long as it takes to get the proper kitchen in.  We got him back again a week later as we realised that despite our best planning we forgot to allow enough space to get the plastering done on the wall behind.  Well – you can’t get everything right first time!

The transformation was awesome as the bare brick, steels and lintels were hidden beneath the plasterboard.  The ceiling was also a bit of a mess from the AGA flue and the spotlight that was removed, and of course the textured finish, so that was also boarded over.  Once the top coat of plaster was applied we had a proper room again. 

Paul the fitter had a mate who is a plasterer, also called Paul, who was needed to get the boards in place for the ceiling and to get some of the plastering done.  He was keen to help out with the plastering needed in the bedrooms where the sinks were taken out and the doorways remodelled, but here our luck ran out as all the local suppliers were out of the materials we needed.  From what we can understand there probably isn’t a bag of plaster in the entire UK!!  Paul Arnold is the plasterer and its obvious he likes to go to the gym.  When Cheryl came down the stairs on his first day and caught sight of him in the kitchen she remarked in private, ‘shit, he’s got muscles on his muscles!’  As we have two Pauls we call him Arnie, and we hope he’ll be back!

We had planned to use a local spray painter, especially for the messy mist coating of the bare plaster but he wasn’t working during lockdown.  As regular readers know, we have been decorating the rentals over the past few summers so it was time to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in.  It took a week or so to get the painting done – and to make a start on getting rid of the 70s pine sauna/ski chalet vibe in the former breakfast area.  Neil also surprised Cheryl on Friday afternoon as she was listening to Steve Wright on Radio 2.  We got a shout out, including the fact we had no kitchen since lockdown, ‘Serious Decoratin’ – no G’

What a month it’s been.  We started quite despondent but determined to make the best of it, especially as our problems were minute compared to what some families have been going through.  As it happened we have been lucky enough to get further ahead with the renovation, and, if the lockdown is gradually lifted in the next month we won’t be massively behind schedule.

Neil also stumbled across (and nearly stood in) this amazing nest – Philomena has laid a clutch of 18 eggs so fingers crossed that next month we may have the patter of several tiny feet in the garden.

Stay safe.

No sooner had we published the February blog we were contacted by Carl who is going to do the serious structural work.  We can start next Monday!!!  Yes, oh yes, that’s serious progress at last.  We were excited and apprehensive as this was the start of living in a construction site with all the dust, noise and mess that goes with it.  Still, it’ll only be for a short while we thought………

You will all know by now why we thought wrong, and we won’t dwell on it here.  Suffice to say that we hope you are all keeping well and safe during these exceptional times.  Maybe some non Covid news will be a welcome escape.  Read on to see what we got up to in the most  extraordinary month we have experienced.

Before we could get the walls down we had to get the major plumbing work finished.  Matt arrived and swiftly removed the old boiler and that meant no heating and hot water for a week while the new boiler and radiators were fitted.  Of course we chose a really chilly week but managed well with the log burner in the study.  Our new boiler aka ‘big boy’ is great and the house is significantly warmer where the newer bigger radiators have been fitted.  We’re still a few short as these can’t be hung until the wall reconstruction is done.  Matt worked so hard and found the existing plumbing in the house something of a challenge.  Cheryl escaped to the Gym and after almost a week without a boiler Neil stayed in the shower for days! 

The garden is bursting into life and so is Phileas.  We spotted a hen perched on the fence and soon saw Phileas trying his best to impress her strutting his stuff and doing his sexy dance but unfortunately we don’t think he was successful as she hasn’t been seen since. 

The first weekend of March brings a major event to Seaton.  It’s Grizzly by name and Grizzly by nature. The 20 mile Grizzly and the 9 mile Cub races present tough challenges over a multi-terrain route including bogs, streams, pebble beaches, clifftops and ascents/descents up/down steep hills.  We took part in the fundraising quiz at the Gateway on the Friday, and our team won – yay! We’re not quite up to taking part but did our bit to support the runners by watching and cheering the start and finish on the esplanade.  Sadly, but not surprisingly, there were a number of casualties as the weather both before and during was horrid.

Progress at last

It didn’t take long to prepare for the builders.  We quickly moved what was left of the kitchen into the study, along with a small table & chairs and sofa.  It was a little cramped but a lot more space than we used to have in the caravan.  All furniture, apart from the sofas, was cleared from the living room and the carpet was carefully peeled back and placed over the top to cover them up.  The dining room was also cleared just leaving the glass top tables stacked in the corner.  Not having very much in the way of furniture and the usual household clutter was turning out to be a real bonus.

We were under no illusion about the potential dust & mess but the wonderful crew who arrived were incredibly conscientious about keeping the mess and noise to a minimum.  They put up plastic sheeting and gaffer taped the door frames leading to the hallway which was really effective.  The last day included the final removal of walls for double doors into the hallway so on that day we found ourselves sealed in with a taped door for a few hours.  We had one mishap when the guys sliced through a pipe hidden in the wall and our walls turned out to be a little more complicated than they had thought so the 3 to 4 day job turned into 6 and straddled a weekend.  We got used to living in our one room during the day with a good long walk along the beach to keep us from going stir crazy.  Looking back, it was good training for what was going to come.

Neil’s sister June and husband Roy had planned a visit to us for the weekend of 21^st March and we had booked tickets for a 60s & 70s band, The Zoots, at the Gateway.  The building work was starting to overrun and with no kitchen and the extent of the mess and dust we were starting to have second thoughts as to whether we should postpone.  People were starting to talk about what was happening in Italy and Spain and the news was filling up with cases of Corona Virus in the UK.  Normal life was still continuing and Cheryl met up with Diane for a film & picnic night at the Gateway to watch The Personal Life of David Copperfield on Friday 14^th March.  On Monday 16^th Boris Johnson advised against non-essential travel and suggested people should not go to pubs, theatres and restaurants.  There was also a suggestion that those over 70 would be asked to stay at home.

The builders finished work on Tuesday 17^th and we finally could see the full extent of the destruction.  The result was worth the dust and mess.  The space has been opened up, the light level in the kitchen has vastly improved and we can see the beautiful garden from every angle.  Wow – it’s still a long, long way from being finished with exposed brick and broken plaster and cables hanging out of the walls but to us it looked wonderful and we were so excited to get things started.

Next day the scaffold for fixing the leaky chimneys arrived and we soon had two large erections either side of the house (oooer missus!). 

To make the most of the cost of the scaffolding, which stays in place for a minimum of 4 weeks, we got a quote to drop a flue lining into the living room chimney for a log burner (to be installed next year) and to put in a flue for the existing burner in the study.   Ah, nearly forgot that the original fireplace had been bricked up and diverted when the previous owners shifted it. Just managed to get another builder lined up to deal with it and went ahead with the deposit for the flues so they could start work two weeks into the scaffold hire.  First of all the chimneys had to be cleaned, repointed and painted with ‘Storm Dry’ a freakishly expensive waterproof coating used on lighthouses and guaranteed for 25 years.  Work on that was starting on Monday 23^rd March.   Everything was starting to come together at a really good pace.

Wednesday 18^th March and the Gateway announced that the events planned for the weekend had been postponed.  We had a phone call with June & Roy and decided that we should postpone their visit until later in the year.  We realise now that was definitely the right thing to do.

Friday 20^th March Jules from Howdens came round to check measure the kitchen following the work to remove the dividing wall and lose the arch wall.  We talked about putting in some display units either side of the dining room double doors and checked lengths of worktop & upstand as these were being ordered from a separate source.  Just needed the kitchen fitter to confirm the depths required and all that could be ordered with a lead time of 10-14 days.  That left getting the walls finished off and we were good to go.

At 5pm that same day Boris Johnson ordered all bars and restaurants to close at midnight. Things were beginning to change but the enormity of what we were facing was still not sinking in.

First thing Monday morning Dacks & Sons turned up to start work on the chimneys and we tackled stripping wallpaper from what remained of the kitchen walls to get the finishing off underway.  The worktop order was placed and we thought about getting the Howdens order set up but decided to wait for the revised quote to include the additional units.

Monday 23^rd March at 8pm normal life in the UK came to an abrupt halt

Our house is in a mess but it doesn’t matter.  We were getting close to having a proper kitchen but that’s not going to happen in the foreseeable future.  The worktop factory has closed and Howdens has shut down.  However, we had the oven & hob delivered.  The chippy started work on constructing door frames and the electrician also arrived to do the first fix.  The builder lined up to remove the bricks from the fireplace called off.  The chimney repair is on hold as the company has decided to stop work.  The scaffold firm have suspended all work and have assured us the scaffold will stay in place as long as we need to complete the work.  We had just paid £1000 deposit for the chimney flues and were amazed when the stove company returned it immediately. We also think we are probably the last people in the country to have our phone line reactivated so we now have broadband which we think we are really going to need in the coming months.

The first week has been interesting.  It’s funny how you get used to things after a while.  The first days of not being able to go out unless it’s for food or exercise felt really strange.  People are getting better at social distancing and Tesco’s has calmed down a little.  We may moan about the hold up to our renovations but we are well aware that we are truly fortunate.  We are so lucky to live in a beautiful part of the country in a small town beside the sea.  We have plenty of space in our house, garden and in the town, especially the glorious expanse of beach and sea.  On top of that the sun has been shining for almost a week non-stop.  We realise life has not been easy for a lot of people and have nothing but admiration for all those working in the NHS and all key workers who are keeping things going for all of us.

Well what a month this has been.  We were really excited about posting this blog two weeks ago as we wanted to share the progress on the house.  Now as we write it all seems so unimportant and trivial in the midst of what we face now.  That said, we have seen a number of positives emerge as people seem to be communicating from afar with more frequency than before.

To cap it all Gary at The Hat is doing his best to stay afloat.  He’s offering a home delivery service of his finest beers and ciders.  Needless to say we are going to do our best to help him stay in business and to be there for us when this whole mess is finished.  We also vowed to have 2 takeaways a week to help the restaurants to get over the crisis.  Many started to offer but new restrictions and regulations mean that there are only one or two offering home delivery. 

So, the world is totally stuffed, we’re living in a building site and it’s all going to get worse before it gets better.  However, we’re counting our blessings.  So far our family is fit and well, we have a large beautiful house to live in, the garden is blossoming, our friends stuck overseas are so far OK, we’re not self-isolating in a tiny rented flat in a big city and this morning we noticed that Phileas had a new girl-friend. 

Life goes on – just not as we know it!  Stay safe.

Do any of you remember Saturday Night at The London Palladium?  They nearly always had a variety act who would impress the audience by keeping multiple plates spinning on cane sticks.  The more plates he could spin before they fell off the more the audience clapped.  Well, that’s how we feel, spinning plates replaced by managing plasterers, plumbers, builders, sparkies, chippys etc etc etc…..phew!

Talking of variety acts, we went to the Cinderella Panto in Seaton…..oh yes we did!  It was a delightful evening and featured all the things you expect – ugly sisters to boo and hiss at, obviously two men in drag, cheesy slapstick routines, lots of kids singing and dancing and some great performances from the enthusiastic local cast.  The show was hardly likely to make The West End but it was great to see average looking people, in all sorts of shapes and sizes plus lots of small children strutting their stuff.  To be fair, one or two were pretty damned good.

We also went up to Gloucester to have a lunch with Neil’s siblings.  As it was about 2hrs drive we multi tasked and hired a van so we could swing by Bradley Stoke and collect the remaining bits of furniture cleared out from Cheryl’s house and flat.  It was a long day but lovely to see June, Roy, Bill, Sue and Bob.  The M5 was kind to us and we managed to get back in time to unload the van and return it that afternoon.

We also had a visit from Leanne and ‘middle aged’ Neil.  Yup, they have a new friend who is now ‘young Neil’ meaning that Leanne’s Neil has been elevated to ‘middle aged Neil’. We knew they were arriving late on the Friday evening, which was the same day as our trip to Gloucester.  We started to worry when it got much later and they didn’t arrive. 

Oops! We had the phones switched to silent night time mode and managed not to hear them knocking at the front door.  They had instructions to let themselves in just in case we were late back from getting the furniture and found the key from the key box but couldn’t get it in the back door as our key was in from the other side.  When we finally thought about checking for messages we found they had gone to find a pub to wait in until we got back.  At least they did us a favour as the pub they found turned out to be a bit of a dud and saves us the bother of checking it out.

It was great to see them and to show them the ‘before’ house as well as some of our plans.  We also had a lovely night out starting with a drink in the Hat and followed by excellent tapas in The Wild Caper.

Phileas is still a regular visitor to the garden. There was quite a racket one day and we watched a turf war going on……luckily Phileas won! ……well we think it was Phileas as it’s quite difficult to tell them apart.

Getting plastered

Our bedroom had an unusual feature of narrow shelves hidden behind ‘secret’ doors which had been covered with wallpaper.  This explained why the previous occupants had placed two enormous wardrobes slap bang in the middle of the wall.  Regular readers will remember this was where we were left with wallpaper hanging off when they took the wardrobes away.

We thought about exposing the shelves and decided to strip off all the damaged wallpaper to see how we could make a feature of them.  We then discovered the house originally had picture rails which sadly were all stripped out.  The plaster on the wall wasn’t in great condition and we finally decided that the size and position of the alcoves was making it impossible to have a sensible layout of bedroom furniture.  They had to go, and we needed a plasterer to cover them up and re-plaster the wall. 

Quite some time passed with several attempts to get plasterers to turn up and quote.  In desperation we searched again and found Pawel the Plasterer who gave us a good price and was available – hurrah!

We had also lined up a guy who can spray paint rooms and decided to give this a try as it can be effective covering over existing wallpaper.  Every wall in the house is papered so if we can avoid the work involved in stripping and remove any risk of pulling off plaster in the process…..winner all around!   We had been prepared to do the decorating ourselves but if the spray man can get it done as fast as he says, and at £120/day, then it’s not worth us getting the rollers dirty.  We got him booked in the start the week after the plasterer and felt pretty pleased that at last we were finally getting somewhere.

Pawel did a great job with the wall and a few days later it had dried out to a pale pink.  We cleared everything out of the bedroom and moved into the spare bedroom.  The day before the painter was due Cheryl glanced up at the wall which had developed a strange dark patch at the top which looked a bit damp – bugger, yet another step backwards!

This was the weekend of Storm Dennis and whilst Seaton escaped the worst of the weather, the combination of wind and constant driving rain had resulted in water getting in around the chimney stack.  We looked carefully at the wall in the spare bedroom – and that too showed a damp patch which was less obvious on the wallpaper.

We cancelled the spray man and moved back into our bedroom.  We need to get scaffolding and work to repair the flashing and possibly repoint both chimneys – another potentially huge unforeseen expense.  Scaffolding will cost around £1500 and as I write we are still waiting for quotes for the repairs.  To say we were a bit pissed off is a massive understatement, especially as we felt that we were getting close to having one finished room.  It’s also another piece of work that will need to join the plate spinning as once the scaffold is up it stays for weeks and will block the driveway so no other workmen can get their vehicles in.

Always look on the bright side

On a more positive note, we have had some progress.  The engineer completed his calculations and sent us some complex drawings which we didn’t really understand.  We were advised by the building firm that although none of our alterations need planning permission, we would need to raise a building control notice as the local council will need to sign off any structural work.  A straightforward online process but an upfront cost of £470, and hopefully that will be enough to cover all the site visits we need.

A week later the head of the building firm returned to mark up walls and calculate final costs for steels and lintels.  He also suggested he may be able to carry out the work in a few weeks time – fingers crossed on that one.

With the possibility that work could start at any time we set about getting rid of the kitchen units we definitely wouldn’t be reusing in the workshop. We don’t like to put anything usable into landfill so thought we would have a go at giving them away but weren’t confident as although it’s a good quality John Lewis kitchen it is a bit dated. We needn’t have worried as just after placing a quick ad offering a range of old units ‘free to collector’ Cheryl’s phone didn’t stop buzzing. A few days later, and the units were gone.

We also took out the diagonal tiled false wall which was behind the AGA and discovered some interesting 1950’s wallpaper.  The kitchen is a bit of a mess but still functional for the time being.  We have to remove the remaining units and worktop on the big wall which is coming down but that will wait until just before the work starts.

The Heat is Off

A decision was finally made about the heating & water system following several changes of mind over whether to get a combi boiler or pressurized system.  We’ve gone for a combi storage boiler – a clever halfway house which should be sufficient to meet our everyday needs plus the few occasions when we have visitors. We don’t need an additional water tank which means we don’t have to give up space in the utility and the door into the greenhouse can stay.  All of which saves cost – just as well given the new found chimney problem. 

Even better we found Matt the plumber who was able to quote promptly and is available at the start of March. We can’t start the structural stuff until the plumbing is complete as it involves repositioning of some radiators so that’s a real bonus.  He also comes with another big bonus.  For the last few years he’s only worked 6 months of the year, preferring to spend 6 months travelling like we did.  So, in a nutshell, he’s not VAT registered……yay, 20% off!

The replacement of the boiler isn’t straightforward as Neil needs to rebuild part of the wall where it will hang.  The old boiler needs to go before this can happen so the installation work will take a few days and mean no heating and hot water until its done and it’s not that warm at the moment.  It’ll remind us both of when we were kids, waking up in the morning with ice on the insides of the windows because we didn’t have central heating.  Luckily the wood burner in the study works so we will have one cosy room even if we do start to pong a bit.

Maybe next month we will have some real progress to report……….

Our plan to return early was to be able to kick start the renovations to our new home, aka ‘Moneypit on Sea.’  However it’s difficult to plan things when you can’t do something until you’ve done something else, ‘chicken and egg’ comes to mind or ‘going round and round’ but not going anywhere. 

Before we got back we spent a few days catching up with Alex & Freddy in London and then spent Christmas with Neil’s sister June & family.  Boxing day included a chilly but enjoyable pony trek in The Forest of Dean followed by a family party back at June’s.  On our way to Devon we also met with Neil’s kids and number one grandson for lunch before driving South to finally arrive home.  

It’s the first festive season we’ve had with our family in more than 10 years so whilst the time was brief it was very special.  Thanks to all for taking us in over Christmas at such short notice.  It was great to watch the kids open their presents which is something we have really missed while being away.

Our lovely friends Glyn and Diane who have been keeping an eye on the house while we’ve been away, invited us to join them for dinner on New Year’s Eve in the local steakhouse.  We had a fabulous meal and then they surprised us by bringing a bottle of bubbly for us to crack open on the Esplanade while we watched the fireworks at midnight. For the last 10 years we’ve been on a beach, somewhere, for New Year so that’s a tradition which will continue albeit the fireworks here don’t come close to the zillions of pyrotechnics in Goa.

We spent New Year’s Day riding the Seaton Tramway.  Neil insisted we travelled on the open top deck in the drizzle to ‘enjoy’ the view.  It was lovely looking across the wetlands nature reserve but it was freezing cold so Cheryl insisted they sat inside on the return tram.  We followed that with helping Gary at The Hat use up the last of the beer in the barrel so that he could close down for his long holiday back home in South Africa in January.  It was a fun afternoon as various people popped in to have a beer and chat and after several drinks and snacks too many we meandered home.

Despite some extremely lively weather we’ve been out for a walk most days along the esplanade and up to the viewpoint past the harbour.  It’s a lovely walk and takes about an hour and a bit.  Each day brings a different aspect of the sea and the views depending on the weather. Early in January the rough sea conditions resulted in most of the pebble beach ending up on the esplanade. 

One of our concerns about moving to the coast was the possibility of a ghost town feeling in the winter.  We shouldn’t have worried as we’ve found that Seaton has a lot going on all year round.  There are several good restaurants, pubs and cafes.  Our local community venue, The Gateway, has regular film & picnic nights.  Seaton gets the big releases about a month after they’ve been on general release.  The hall has a stage and full sound system and flexible seating arrangements.  We’ve been to one film and a quiz night and have already booked for more as well as The Zoots for a live sixties & seventies music event in March.

Renovation update

Regular readers will recall that the purchase of the house in the summer dragged on and on, leaving us with about 3 weeks between moving in and setting off for Goa.  It was also back in September when it was a lot brighter and warmer.  We spent the first few days back in the house wondering why certain rooms didn’t seem to warm up and then discovered huge gaps here and there where the wind whistled through.  To be fair, it also had something to do with the fact that the boiler is 25-30 years old and is on our list to replace before it dies. Windows were taped, frames were siliconed, vents were sealed and Neil even used some spare carpet to cover the draughty letterbox. 

The previous owners sent us their annual energy consumption for gas and electricity during the sale process and we assumed the house was just expensive to heat because its old and big.  Turns out their bills were huge because they had no loft insulation, they ran a gas guzzling AGA and the house had more draughts than Wetherspoons.

Not only were the previous occupants happy to live in a cold draughty house we’ve also learnt that they were not well liked.  Several neighbours have had a run in with them over a number of things and we’ve even had a quote from somebody who also did work for them – ‘never again’ he said! I wonder what they are saying about us………..

We are making really slow progress on our plans for the house.  We keep going around in circles about kitchens, bedroom, carpets, knocking down walls and putting up walls.  We are waiting for quotes, drawings and calculations.  We also had to repair 30 metres of 4ft collapsed garden wall, 15m of 6ft wall to take down before it fell down and progress on replacing it with fencing has been delayed due to the constant high winds.  As I write this we have fencing halfway and the handyman has gone AWOL as he had other work booked in.  We think he will be back in two weeks to finish but stormy weather is set to continue.  So far this has been £3k not in the budget.

There have been some achievements.  Ten 80ft and potentially dangerous trees have been taken down.  This took 3 days to complete and was amazing to watch.  The guys abseiled up and down whilst taking the trees out section by section.  Not sure the locals enjoyed the restrictions on traffic along the lane, but near neighbours have all commented on their improved light levels.  Another £3k not in the budget!

We now have enormous piles……..of chopped logs stacked ready to be sawn and split.  This leaves us with another decision….which log burner to buy?.  That can wait until autumn as the wood will take at least a year to season in Neil’s new log store.  He thinks we now have enough wood to keep us going until they carry him out in his own wooden box!  We also have several large mounds of wood chips in the garden which have to fester for six months before we spread them.

As mentioned previously we inherited a gas AGA, and we’re not big AGA fans (sorry to those of you who love them).  Although people pay thousands for one of these beasts, the second hand sales market is really difficult as the only buyers seem to be companies who recondition them and sell on for a massive profit.  Eventually we secured a deal and it was finally gone.  It took nearly 4 hours for two men to disconnect, dismantle and remove it.

After several weeks, and a number of different options we have a kitchen design that works.  We also have a fitter we want to use.  However, we can’t start the kitchen until the structural walls are down which means we can’t schedule the very, very busy kitchen fitter until we have dates for the walls and we can’t do any of that until we select the builder.  We think we’re there but we are awaiting prices.  He comes very recommended but we know he’s not cheap so we have to wait for him to agree with the structural engineer about RSJ’s etc before he can price. 

We also need a new boiler as the existing one is probably older than Neil!  However, it sits in a narrow alcove which will need to be filled in before a new bigger one can be fitted. Can’t have a new boiler until we remove the old boiler, build the wall, let it go off, then fit the new boiler.  Don’t want to do that in February unless we can forecast 15C for a week or so. 

It’s been quite a frustrating month as we seem to be endlessly waiting for completed drawings, calculations for structural work and tradesmen to turn up and quote for jobs.  It’s all complicated by all the most recommended ones being busy with enough work for the next 3 months.  We were hoping to have an idea of when we could get started but that seems a long way off now.

Meanwhile, Neil is getting used to lugging, chopping and splitting and Cheryl is getting used to barrowing and stacking.  We’re using muscles we didn’t know we had.

One final thing, we have a new pet who is a regular visitor to the garden.

Finally, the big day came, September 19^th 2019.   The sun shone brightly and Mike (aka Man With Van, plus mate) came to load up with our few belongings and bits of furniture…..one single garage full!  We drove on ahead to Devon expecting to find the house empty as the vendors had told us the week previously that they would be out by the night before.  As we turned into the drive we were greeted by a number of removal men still loading the van, the vendors pottering around and their stressed cleaner losing the battle to clean up behind furniture which hadn’t been moved for over twenty years.  This was Thursday and they had been loading the van since Monday! They had managed to clear most things from the house, but the garage & sheds were still full.

The previous owners, who are in their late eighties, were very apologetic that they hadn’t moved out in time and sadly admitted that as they removed one of their massive wardrobes from the bedroom a large piece of wallpaper peeled itself off the wall.  It did look bad, but we saw the funny side as we didn’t like it anyway and it wasn’t too difficult to stick it back up again temporarily.

Neil asked their removal men to shift the Luton van they were using to shuttle stuff from the house to the much larger lorry parked in a wider street nearby so our men could move their Luton van in to unload.  ‘How many vans have you got?’ he asked and was totally bemused when Neil said ‘one!’  The guy must have repeated his question three times before he finally accepted that we did have just ‘one!’

Amongst the chaos we got a visit from Alistair, the estate agent who sold the house to us, and he came with a lovely hamper full of local produce……a very nice touch.   We finally got their men out.  Our men in & out in less than an hour including a stop for tea & biscuits.  Their men back in to finish clearing the outbuildings and we got the vendors to stop hovering over us and focus on their remaining packing.  Finally a few hours later we were alone in our new home to start our unpacking…..phew!

It wasn’t long before it was time to start the process of getting to know people.  We started with The Hat for a couple of beers.  It’s run by Gary, a South African, and it’s a quirky micropub located in an old butcher’s shop.  The original tiles are still on the wall and the seating is at shared high tables.  They serve local craft beers, ciders and a selection of gins.  They have a few snacks, and mobile phones should be on silent.  If you want to make a call you go outside.  Orders are taken at your table and you have a hand written tab.   We ended our first evening in of the two local Indian restaurants.  It wasn’t bad at all. We think we’re going to like this town but, hey, it’s TBL if we don’t!

The next few days were spent getting used to the new place and deciding where to put the few things we brought with us.  We knew the house was big, but without all the previous clutter we could see just how big it is, and what a contrast to the past ten years spending our summers living in a touring caravan.  The empty rooms looked sad with faded patches where pictures had hung for years and numerous wires hanging out where the wall lights had been taken out.

Our second evening was spent with Glyn & Diane who are heavily involved in the town Twinning Association.  We met in the sunshine for a few drinks outside The Vaults, a pub overlooking the Esplanade, followed by dinner in the Malthouse, an independent Pub in the town.  We saw them again at the Twinning Association Quiz night the following week.  We’ve joined and hope to participate in the next visit to Thury Harcourt in Normandy which should take place in Spring 2020.

We had our first visitors at the weekend. Neil’s brother Bill and his wife Sue travelled from London and brought us some beautiful glasses as a house warming present.  The weather cleared up enough for a short walk along the esplanade and cliff gardens to see the view across the bay. We headed into town for a few drinks in The Hat followed by dinner in The Caper which serves Tapas from around the World.

Towards the end of their visit we made more discoveries about the house.  Bill and Neil went up into the loft and came down with some very old mirrors which we think were the originals from the bathroom and bedrooms, maybe going back to the 1920’s and we’re going to try and restore them.  The second discovery was less welcome.  There was absolutely no loft insulation at all.  The previous owner had the wall cavities filled and part boarded the loft but bizarrely omitted the loft insulation!!  Luckily we found a great handyman and a few days later with a few trips to Homebase and a delivery from B&Q we were deboarded and fully insulated to the current recommended level of 270mm, which is pretty thick. Neil was absolutely knackered from all the trips up and down the stairs carrying bales of insulation up and sheets of flooring down.

Week two was focused on getting jobs done – gutters cleaned, dusk to dawn light switch fitted for porch and driveway lights, electrics safety check and LED bulbs installed.  Do the remaining changes of address which only allow you to do once you have moved.  Opening a joint bank account for the bills, signing up with utilities, council tax and setting up all the direct debits done.  Meeting the neighbours and discovering no one else is from Devon! Participating in Fiverfest where the local independent shops had great special offers for a fiver all over town to encourage every adult to spend a fiver a week.

We got to know the gardener, Mark, and decided to keep him on over the Winter to keep the garden under control while we are away.  We had the local building firm in to discuss options for remodeling & getting scale drawings done so we can decide exactly what is possible and we want to do.  We met a kitchen fitter and got some initial designs done so we can start planning & budgeting.  We managed to get some plumbers in to quote for replacing the 20+ year old boiler with a more efficient one.  Lastly, a couple of assessments from a tree surgeon as a few of the trees have become way too big and need to be cut back or taken out completely.  Fortunately, all were assessed as being OK to deal with when we get back in the Spring.

Glyn & Diane very kindly agreed to look in on the house while we are away and met us on Friday to have a look around and get a set of keys.  We went for an excellent meal in the local steakhouse, The Shed, followed by drinks in The Clarence which had pretty good live music.

Week three was a little calmer and gave us more time to get to know the house and think about how we would like to change it.  We do want it to have a more open plan feel and to tone down the décor whilst being sympathetic to the 1928 character of the building.  The vendors did leave an enticing bundle of original deeds and documents which we haven’t had time to look through and we’re looking forward to discovering its history and its previous owners. 

Alex & Freddy managed a quick visit during our last weekend.  We had a long walk around the town, along the esplanade to Axmouth Harbour and back ending with tea, cakes & a Vietnamese coffee in The Hideaway Café overlooking the beach. Drinks in The Hat followed by dinner in The Caper on Saturday night. We took the stunning coastal walk from Seaton to Beer on Sunday and enjoyed a cream tea in the late September sunshine on the beach.

Our last week and a surprise visit from John & Yvonne, friends we met in Goa.  They had booked a glass blowing course in Beer and suggested we meet up for dinner.  Another evening of drinks in The Hat followed by dinner in The Malthouse.  A great evening and a good chance to catch up before we meet again in Goa.

Our last evening in Seaton was spent with Glyn & Diane, starting with, yes you guessed it, drinks in The Hat.  We ate in the other Indian, Monsoon which is BYO, and had better food than the other one in town.  It felt really sad to say goodbye to Glyn & Diane. Thanks both for welcoming us to Seaton and helping us settle in.

Saturday morning and it was time to pack our bags & get the house ready for the winter.  Our three weeks went by in a flash and we didn’t want to leave.  Seaton is a lovely place, its sleepy and the pace of life is slow, but everyone seems friendly.  We’re looking forward to the usual fun in Goa, but we’re also looking forward to going back to the house and making it our home.

The journey to Goa always starts with saying goodbyes to friends and family.  We spent a couple of nights in Bristol with Paul, Miranda and number one grandson.  He’s pretty stable on his feet now and such a happy little soul.  We will miss him a lot while we are away and look forward to photos and videos from his proud parents while we are away.

Next stop Gloucester for two nights with Roy & June.  June is recovering from a knee replacement and gradually improved while we were staying.  We hope to see her running around by the time we get back!

On to London by train where we had dinner with Leanne & Neil on our first night.  We stayed with Alex & Freddy and on the Friday attended a very special ceremony in the Guildhall.  Alex was granted Freedom of the City of London and is now entitled to drive his sheep across London Bridge! He was invited to become a member of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists a couple of years ago and this was the formal ceremony to make him a Freeman. We had an interesting and informative  talk on the history of Freemen (and women) and were shown certificates and signatures of many previous and current holders.  Next stop was to the pub with friends to celebrate followed by excellent food in their local Italian restaurant. 

It was soon time to head to Heathrow for our flight to Goa via Mumbai.  We wonder if Benaulim has seen any changes this year?

You may remember that back in May we were spending our days walking in The Forest of Dean.  What we didn’t tell you is that we took a couple of days out to go shopping.

We’ve not lived a conventional life since we started that first six month trip back in 2008. Living a nomadic lifestyle split between long winter trips overseas and summer tours of the UK in our caravan has become normal for us.  However, over the last couple of years we’ve spent our time looking at various locations in the UK to buy our first home together.   We looked at coastal towns as we both love being by the sea, as well as various locations mainly in the South West.  We both had our own set of ‘must have requirements’ meaning that compromise was always going to happen. 

One day Cheryl showed Neil a house on Rightmove that took her fancy expecting him to say ‘no, absolutely not, it’s too expensive, it’s a money pit and hadn’t you noticed it’s way too big for two people?’.  He said all of the above but did agree to see it so we booked a viewing and then went again the next day to have another look. 

Well, it’s certainly more than we planned to spend, it probably is a money pit and it’s definitely much too big but we just fell in love with it even though it needs lots of remodelling and modernisation to satisfy our ‘must have requirements’. 

It wasn’t plain sailing through the sales process and several times we thought it was going to fall apart.  First the owners hadn’t found somewhere to move to, and that process took a month.  Then two months later when we went to visit them, they revealed that the first purchase wasn’t in the frame anymore but ‘not to worry, we’ve agreed a price on a house today’!  So, that’s three months gone already.  Then they revealed that the house was the subject of probate and we knew that process could take months.  Fortunately, they agreed to move into rented accommodation if needed.  Then there was another sticky moment when the drain survey revealed one or two potential problems.  Again, the sellers came up trumps and agreed to split the cost of the repairs. 

The house is in Seaton in Devon and it was built in 1928.  It’s a 5 minute walk to the beach, town, pubs, tennis courts, a proper butcher, The Purbeck Coastal Path, gym, theatre/cinema, Seaton Tramway, Jurassic Centre, Wetland Wildlife Trust, in fact, just about everything.  The garden is a whopping 0.75 of an acre with stunning specimen trees planted by the current owners who are nearing 90 years old.  It has several man caves, a garage, conservatory, loggia and a summer house. We also have a proper Croquet Lawn – now all we have to do is buy a croquet set and learn the rules. 

Ah, almost forgot.  It’ll also need furnishing and as we’ve not actually had a traditional home for the last 11 years our entire world fits into a single garage.  This means lots of shopping………. ‘deep joy’ said Neil.  Who cares, we’re excited about knocking down walls, changing the kitchen and installing some bathrooms, excited about putting down some roots, excited about living by the sea and just generally, as you might have worked out, very, very excited. 

We’ve just exchanged contracts and move in mid September.  We have several spare rooms if you want to come and visit, just let us know.