Last post

I have decided to make this my 130th & last post, with a picture of the finished house, our beautiful sign, the rowan, holly, and our lavender hedge.

We will of course, still keep busy, making things and getting the house as we like it inside, but, at our 4 year anniversary, feel we can say that the "build" is finished.

We have learned a huge amount since we began and made a host of new friends. A lot has happened in the family as well. We both retired, we have had a wedding, a funeral and a birth.

The blog has been a great record of everything that has happened, of everyone who has helped us (and a very tiny number who have hindered!)

I'm glad that I recorded thanks throughout, as there are too many to list, except to say:

if you have been, thank you for reading our blog

the garden, again

Keith has been working very hard to get the garden looking nice. We have replanted all the bulbs (fingers crossed they will look nice in spring) and planted the borders (thanks to Steve Jackson, a true gardener,  for his contributions). We have a fence to stop Joe running into the brook, and Keith has put up 2 of our Christmas presents: a weather vane and bird house.

Genghis came to visit, here he is, inspecting the work in progress:

the garden

 Keith has been busy in the garden. He began with another bonfire

The balustrade has been finished, and he has planted some geraniums and some herbs. Thanks again to Angela & Nigel, who gave us a beautiful rhodedendron that took a battering in the rain, but has perked up again. I'm afraid that the garden pictures don't do justice to the borders, where the plants are beginning to look at home. The leylandii trunks still look very bare, but you can just see the ivy & climbing hydrangeas that we hope will cover them.

I took a picture of mother duck with her brood, but some have since fallen prey to pike or other predators and only one remains.

The rain has been so persistent that some of the ducks needed to seek shelter. You can just see the duck to the right, with 2 drakes standing guard.

a flight of swallows

 This afternoon, I set off on a walk, and spotted a lone swallow swooping over the brook.
I walked along the Nene, the sky threatening rain. After a short shower, the sun came out and I saw a red kite, a pied wagtail, and a pair of reed warblers darting into their nest on the river bank. As I walked back down the High Street, just rounding the slight curve before our house, the sky filled with swallows, swooping and screeching.

spring continues

The birds have been very active. In the last few days we have seen a woodpecker, an egret, a goldfinch, and all of our usual visitors.

Genghis has been very protective of his mate, although they both fled when the goosander (above) landed near them.

Keith has continued to plant the garden, and has helped to hang our first living room curtain (which has to come down again for hemming). Pictures next time.

Thanks to you all for your good wishes, we would love to see you at any time.

bird watching

The birds have been celebrating spring. I have not been quick enough enough my camera to capture the swans' courting rituals, or the battles of Genghis, who has been living up to his name. When he saw his lady love surrounded by other drakes, he fought them all off, despite ferocious attacks from them. She was obviously impressed by his valour, and as you can see here, has sensibly chosen Genghis - although you can see another troublesome drake on the left.

The geese use the Nene Valley as a migrating route, and periodically stop to feed and meet up. This picture was taken about a fortnight ago, when the meeting place was just opposite our garden.





Keith has been making furniture for the study, and digging the back garden. At the back, he has put in some plants to climb up the fence, and the gap in the leylandii; at the front he has been filling in some of the gaps (and thanks again to Christine Jones, Jackie Morton, & Gwenda Burley for lovely plants)

I have been concentrating on my physio, and going out for walks. It is so much better underfoot now. On Saturday I walked along the Nene as far as Woodford lock & back (about a mile & a half) and rounded it off with a drink at the Cock (now taken over by Christine & Tim who are looking after us very well)

spring begins

 

The snowdrops are out, and we saw crocuses today. I took these photos I the afternoon light.

I need to add that something strange has happened on the blog: as you know, I have added links to things I think will be of interest. I have just noticed that some random links have been added by someone else, such as a link on "garage door" that takes you to a random selection of garage doors, and "phone" takes you to a mobile phone site. I can only assume this has been done by yahoo/BlogSpot, and I will try to remove them, but if you find an odd link, please ignore it!

It really is The Bright House!

So finally the scrappy piece of board has been replaced by Wayne's lovely sign.

 

It took awhile for Keith to get around to it, as the temperatures were so low, and he was worried about how long the adhesive would take to set.

 

I have been recovering from my second hip replacement - many thanks to Kettering General Hospital for excellent work and superb care. I am walking along to the war memorial every day, where I can see all of the birds gathering. Today I saw swans, ducks, geese, a moorhen & an egret, as well as the circling crows & red kites.

 

Across the water meadows from our house, the water is high, making it difficult for the birds as the currents swirl very fast. February is living up to its local name of "fill dyke".

 

I am also able to walk to the pub. Sadly, it closed for a few weeks - as Dan who has run it so well during our time here, decided, understandably to move on. Fortunately Tim & Christine from the village have taken it over. Our thanks to them, and good luck.

 

 

 

January

Just a lovely sunrise picture.

Keith is very proud of his new sturdy workbench, made from left-overs.

He has also put in a timber order, so he can begin making bookshelves & a desk for the study.

some lovely things

First of all, this must be one of the strangest place to photograph a house sign!

Wayne Hart saved us the cost of delivery, by meeting us at Peterborough Railway Station, which accounts for the magazines and sweets in the background! We are so pleased with this beautiful design.

I have written previously about Judith Robinson's beautiful fabrics, and have got around to making 2 cushions - the ones in the middle.

And thanks to Angela and Nigel (again!) for the bird bath, although at the time of photographing, no extra water was needed!

the further adventures of Genghis Pudleduck

 

Fans of Genghis will be delighted to know that he has been visiting as the flood waters go down. You can just see his partner, eating the weed by the bank.

Sensibly, when a swan tells him to get out of the way, he does,

 

but just waits on the bank until he can get into the water again

Swans

This picture shows some of the swans, including the near-adult cygnets who have settled here as the worst of the floods go down. We haven't seen much of them this year as they nested further away, but this area seems more comfortable for them at the moment.
The geese & ducks were here earlier, including Genghis, but I didn't manage to get a picture then.

Christmas begins this afternoon in Denford at our lovely pub: lights, tree, mince pies & hot pork rolls!

Floods

A lot of friends have wondered how we are faring. 

We are fortunate - all new builds have to be above the 1000 year floodline.

This is the highest it has been since we've been here; what you can't see in the photo is how fast the water is flowing.

It has not gone above our bank, but it has covered the water meadows as far as the river.

The birds are struggling - this shows the swans trying to eat their usual water cress, and the 2 ducks you can just see are the only ones we have seen.

good news & gorgeous fabric

I last wrote about the tests done for our Energy Performance Certificate. We received an A which really pleased us as we had been predicted a B and had worked to improve our efficiency. It was the first that the East Northants Building Inspector had seen. Our thanks to their department who have been supportive and easy to work with for the last 3 years.

This beautiful fabric is from mayakotan who import it from Guatemala. We met Jude at a Fair Trade fair in Oundle selling scarves, table runners & cushions. She kindly agreed to sell us some of the original fabric so that I can make my own cushions. Our thanks to her & her family.

Keith has set up his weather station ( a gift from 2 Christmases ago!) and here it is in the garden, from which you can see the flooded water meadows

APT; EPC & SAP

Or: Air Pressure Testing, Energy Performance Certificate & Standard Assessment Procedure.

LABC, who are providing the warranty for the house, did these today. Jamie came all the way from Wales. We had a good chat about the Centre for Alternative Technology (see our post on 14 September 2009) where he did a course on sustainable construction.

He taped up all the ventilation ducts, and put this contraption over the front door (to the dismay of our postie who had to leave the post outside!). The air is sucked out to create negative pressure, and we can then feel the draughts where air is leaking in. We did very well, thank goodness.

He gathered all of our information on energy use & insulation and will give us a rating in the next few days. This is our last step before being signed off by the Building Inspector, so more about that next week.

staircarpet, a wardrobe & meteorites

John Kerr has fitted all of our carpets beautifully, and here is the final one:

Keith is fitting our wardrobe, here are the early stages:

 

It will not look empty for long!

We have added another of Anja's meteorites to our collection

And I have been enjoying the new kitchen, making the Christmas cake & pudding ready for our first Denford Christmas.

all moved in!

 The house is looking more like our home, although there are still a lot of boxes around the place.
Having got used to Kindles over the last couple of years, we finally ditched a lot of books, and gave 10 boxes full to Oxfam. We still have plenty, as you can see from the lovely hall bookshelf that Keith has made:

Here, unpacked, are our 2 lovely dressers, big table and chairs:

And here is the family (minus Edmund) gathered for my birthday, with Joe in pride of place:

We were taken by Anja Penger-Onyett's ceramics which we saw at Art in Action. She calls them "meteorites" and we went to see her at Blunham (just off the A1) where she and her husband made us very welcome, with excellent coffee, whilst we chose some to put on the deck.

Last Saturday, the Brights and Martins had a great get-together with Keith managing the barbecue. As at many such gatherings, I was in no state to take decent photos, but did get a nice one of Kirstin & her partner Paul, and the cheesboard with Lindsay presiding (and Shona distracted by her father's lovely St. Clements' cake which can just be seen)

so, although there are still jobs to be done (the porch, tiling the utility room, more woodwork, and of course, the curtains!) it is really beginning to feel like home

some finishing touches

Tomorrow is a momentous day, as our furniture comes out of storage, after 20 months. Strangely, some of it we are not going to keep for long - we just didn't want to rush into getting new settees, for example, until we could see how best to organise seating in the living room.
Some we are looking forward to seeing again, like our lovely dining table & chairs.
Most of our pictures & ornaments will stay boxed whilst we decide where everything is going.

This is what has been happening since our last post:

All of those cables (Nov. 18th 2011) are neatly fixed into place in this box:

Our wood burner is installed, and the test fire was lit on a very warm afternoon (a contrast to when the chimney & flue were installed - see 15 Jan 2012)

Our deck is finished, and we have an awning:

Thanks to Samson in Wellingborough & Markilux.http://en.markilux.eu

This last picture shows the lights installed in the living room today (thanks Paul) and the staircase (see 17 Nov. 2011) which has been unwrapped, finished, and oiled

a scarecrow

Denford, like some other villages, has a scarecrow festival. Here is our builder scarecrow - he won't "medal" but is delighted to be participating.

Inside, today, Mike & Tandy from ACA-Apex are installing our "smart home" system. They have been very helpful & are much better value than many of the systems we looked at. We installed all the cables ourselves (see Nov. 18th 2011) and it seems that all of my labelling has worked well.

Keith has finished the flooring downstairs and it looks lovely. Now he is doing the skirting and door frames. We have, in a triumph of hope over expectation, booked Ace Removals again, to take all of our stuff out of storage on September 20th.

the light at the end of the tunnel

We now have proper flooring in 4 rooms, and here are pictures of the "guest room" (or bedroom 2 as we know it) carpet and the study with ash flooring.



Next step is to move ourselves out of our bedroom, so it can be finished & carpeted.
Keith is about to lay the rest of the downstairs flooring.
We still have to finish tiling in the utility room and the downstairs shower room needs to be finished.

We have been able to enjoy sitting on the deck & using our new barbecue. We now have lights installed there, so can sit out reading.

The post you can see is for the steel wire fencing that will surround the deck when it is finished (at the moment I have to be careful not to fall off!)