Renovation Blog

1 October 2006 - Can we dig it?

I know what you're thinking - "You can't plant veg in October". Well you can put in broad beans and garlic to over-winter, giving you an early crop the next year. Apologies if you were actually thinking "well this isn't anything to do with renovation", but we are still awaiting news on our Listed Building Consent application, and until we have booked in for work on the roof to start there is little else worth doing to the house, as the rain will just continue to pour in...

14 October - Not mushroom here

We find these in our garden! Despite the fact that my wife is 8 months pregnant, after consulting a friend and emailing him photos we decide they are safe to eat (wood blewitts as it happens) and cook them up for supper - delicious!

21 October - Moving in (again)
Now we finally bid farewell to London (dirty, smelly place) and move our remaining posessions into the house. This time it's a whole lot easier and just requires a couple of car loads.

24 October - Up on the roof
There is a lot of mess everywhere - cardboard boxes full of our things and junk left in the house, along with all sorts of building rubble etc. Still, at least we can crack on with clearing it up and making our plans for the renovations. We have decided to give ourselves 18 months to complete everything. There is a lot to do, and the Listed Building Consent slows everything down, but we are confident.

I am speaking to the only four roofers in the county who are qualified to do the roofing work as the slates are Collyweston and must be carefully removed, cleaned and re-used as far as possible. This is not going to be a cheap roof to fix... some of them are already talking about £300 per square metre.