We were invited to a
neighbours (also new to the area) for an evening meal. None of us had realised that
this coincided with a general meeting in the local village around the
possible erection of a wind turbine. So after soup starters, we went down to the village and wandered around in search of the correct church hall where the meeting was to take place. In a small village, it didn't take too long to find. The hall was over-packed with people seated and standing huddled together around the edges and at the back.
On arrival we were beckoned to the front as there were a few spare chairs dotted about. After clambering our way to the free seats, we realised that the meeting was to be conducted in Welsh, none of us being Welsh speakers! Too late to turn back! However, there was no need to worry, as we and other non welsh speakers, were handed a set of head phones. A man lurking suspiciously in a doorway, wearing a small microphone and sounding remarkably like David Attenborough translated everything said/discussed/suggested into English. In a voice barely above a whisper he informed us that the speaker pointing to a slide was saying “and here we see peeping out from behind the mountain and the trees, the wing of the turbine as it would be seen to the naked eye ….” in just the way Sir David himself would have spoken about some rarely seen tropical bird.
The meeting was very heated. Arguments and discussions around health, noise, efficiency, other energy sources, etc, arose between wealthy landowners and the less affluent villagers. An hour and a half later, fors and againsts were still battling out the pros and cons. As it was getting late we decided to leave for our main course. We don't know the outcome, but I gather the 'discussions' continue.
On arrival we were beckoned to the front as there were a few spare chairs dotted about. After clambering our way to the free seats, we realised that the meeting was to be conducted in Welsh, none of us being Welsh speakers! Too late to turn back! However, there was no need to worry, as we and other non welsh speakers, were handed a set of head phones. A man lurking suspiciously in a doorway, wearing a small microphone and sounding remarkably like David Attenborough translated everything said/discussed/suggested into English. In a voice barely above a whisper he informed us that the speaker pointing to a slide was saying “and here we see peeping out from behind the mountain and the trees, the wing of the turbine as it would be seen to the naked eye ….” in just the way Sir David himself would have spoken about some rarely seen tropical bird.
The meeting was very heated. Arguments and discussions around health, noise, efficiency, other energy sources, etc, arose between wealthy landowners and the less affluent villagers. An hour and a half later, fors and againsts were still battling out the pros and cons. As it was getting late we decided to leave for our main course. We don't know the outcome, but I gather the 'discussions' continue.
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It was Spring. Flowers were starting to
grow. We had flowering daffodils in the garden. This caused great excitement (to me) because we were informed that sheep and goats don’t eat bulb plants :) PAH!
Wrong advice again! 'Our' sheep are partial to daffodil heads :(
Sheep hadn't spotted these daffodils hidden in a secluded spot
Thanks to Linda who put us onto 'wikiHow'. Through this, Will taught himself how to dry stone wall. He built a small retaining wall which will be the edge of our patio at some point in the future. Behind it we were to throw any rubble to use as hard core.
We decided it could
be a good idea to grow a small woodland area in our field with a view to converting it into logs in years to come. I researched the cost of buying small saplings and came to the conclusion that our budget
would not stretch that far and other necessities would take priority. The guttering around the house was
near to useless due to the amount of mud and weeds filling it. In torrentially
rainy conditions, Richard & I cleared the gutters of
their contents. Among the grass were several ash tree saplings.
I rescued these and they have become the start of my potential woodland. I found further saplings around the house. Altogether, I rescued about 100, but it remains to be seen whether or not the verb 'rescued' needs to be replaced by 'killed off'. In an effort to protect them from the jaws of my fleecy friends I commandeered an old dog cage found in the house and am raising an army of trees in it.
I rescued these and they have become the start of my potential woodland. I found further saplings around the house. Altogether, I rescued about 100, but it remains to be seen whether or not the verb 'rescued' needs to be replaced by 'killed off'. In an effort to protect them from the jaws of my fleecy friends I commandeered an old dog cage found in the house and am raising an army of trees in it.
Start of my woodland which is now growing in pots 3 to 4 storeys high inside the cage.
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As we no longer need the lower lounge for the time being, it became the 'shed' and was used to house tools and equipment needed for our renovations.
We totally gutted the kitchen and removed the cement from the walls to allow them to dry out.
Kitchen wall
We discovered what appeared to be a small door in a wall which backed onto a bank of soil. We wondered if it could lead to a (wine) cellar beneath the farmers fields. Further investigation revealed an old fireplace, so we decided to keep it revealed as a feature.
We relocated the old sink from the lower kitchen to be
used temporarily in this kitchen. 'Temporarily' in this house means
months, maybe years, not days or weeks.
Next blog - we put our old house on the market
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