WORK STARTS - Sept 2011

'Our' road has about 10 properties dotted along its narrow 3 km length, a mixture of lived in and holiday lets. It's a very pretty road with spectacular views, however with Autumn on its way, the road and our steep drive were becoming soggy and slippery as leaves started to fall and the weather became increasingly damp.

Our transit van was starting to find the conditions difficult. Locals told us we needed a 4X4, ideally a quad bike which when it is snowy and icy, could be used to climb the road to our property having parked the car in the village below. As a property is of no use if it can only be accessed in dry warm weather we decided that a 4X4 had to be included as part of the house cost. 

We are now the proud owners of a pick-up truck fondly known as 'Beastie'. It eats the Welsh roads and more importantly, our drive! It is the most useful thing we have bought for transporting a variety of things across the country from furniture to logs, and building materials (and family).

Summer holidays over, Will spent several days at a time in Wales while I remained at work (should I choose to take early retirement, I can do so from summer 2012. In the meantime, I hang on in the hope for voluntary redundancy, but the authority are having none of it). 
 

Speaking of authorities, the local council and all other local services and agencies in Wales have been excellent. From the initial estate agents and solicitors through to electricians and builders they have been the most welcoming, helpful and friendly people we could have chosen to do business with. We aimed for the first new instalment in the property to be a gas boiler so we could get some heating. A hard working team of experts spent several visits working on this. 
 

The water supply to the house is from the mountain. It comes up in a well in the adjoining field and then serves the nearby properties. 

Our own supply enters the house via two 500 litre tanks which were put there by the previous owner in case the water supply ever dried up. Having been unused for over 2 years, we decided to empty the containers, clean them out, re-seal then refill. Easier said than done! Emptying took time, but was not too difficult (that’s because I left it to Will!) Will as ever, worked out ingenious plans to clean out the tanks. The difficulty arose when we (Will) tried to refill them. The water supply had disappeared! 

Will, in particular spent days braving the wind, rain and mud to try and locate the problem which was becoming increasingly urgent because the gas people were to return 2 days later to install a new boiler which would fire up the old central heating system. A central heating system needs a water supply!! On the Saturday evening Will sent a message to the mobile of the lady who had been overseeing the boiler installation to explain that we had no water supply so asked if Monday’s visit should be cancelled? She immediately phoned back and spent a good 30 minutes of her Saturday evening willingly discussing ways to try to reconnect the water, all of which Will had tried. A little later her husband phoned back with a lengthy call suggesting further ideas!

   

Having progressed no further the following day, we visited a local garden centre (only suitable place open on a Sunday) and bought 100 metres of hose pipe which on return we laid across the field from the well to our water tanks which managed to fill sufficiently enough for the heating work to take place. Phew! 

Semi-adequate radiators in some rooms now helped keep us warmer and aided in drying out the property.

However, this didn’t give us a long term answer. Still no proper water supply. Water came in through the normal taps via the makeshift hose from a fly/mosquito infested well surrounded by sheep, cows & manure. We drank bottled water, and used the local leisure centre for showers. 

It would be some weeks before Will, using his Maths/Physics knowledge, the hose pipe, a vacuum cleaner and several rolls of tape, managed to get the water flowing again. 

Although the bathroom was in a state of dereliction, the bath worked and was clean and the water warm. So it didn't take long before we braved bathing in our luxurious surroundings. We cherished the baths after long hard days of dirty work. 

Next blog - Fun with the North Wales fire brigade!