2001 Summary

Diary Years

With all major work now complete there is much less of interest to show now. So, instead of the normal visit reports, here is a summary for 2001.

The first job of the year, as it was Easter and a bit chilly, was to get the long awaited fire working.

Point at image to zoom in

So it was up on the roof to remove the old asbestos cowl and replace it with two shiny new chimney pots. It was rather a long way up and not easy to work balanced on the ridge, but had the advantage of giving an unusual view of the small barn and side garden.

Then it was on to finishing off the fireplace by facing the hearth and, finally, getting the fire going!

The result was well worth all the hard work. It burns logs like there's no tomorrow, but we were able to purchase a "stere" (0.65 m3) from our neighbour which, as we'll only need it in early and late season, should last us a good while.

A final job planned for the year was to replace the shutters on the lounge and kitchen windows at the front of the house as the current louvered ones were well past their sell by date and beginning to fall apart.

We decided that a plain board design was more typical of the area than louvres and this also meant we could construct them ourselves.

In the end we only managed to get the lounge pair done, but they do look a lot better than the old ones.

I know it hardly seems like a years work, but it was always supposed to be a holiday home and now we are finally (after 5 years) doing more holidaying and less DIY-ing!