Small barn work continues with the help of a dummy

In with the dummy window frame and the constructive work begins

All finished...

The hole for the first patio doors is complete.

Melv prepares for the door.

Sal cleans up.

All the rubble has disappeared easily into the foundations of the new patio.

We can now start to visualise our new home - with a bit of imagination...

Christmas weekend at Mill Barn

Making the most of the daylight hours and dry weather the Christmas break was an excellent chance to continue the work on the small barn.

First Melv wanted to construct the retaining wall for the patio - so we had somewhere to lose all the rubble - brilliant idea.

So in with the mini digger

then up with the wall

We were now all set for the demolition - dusty work - but great fun

The big concrete lintel was next to go

Stand back...

And the next...

There was no going back now

Not a bad couple of days work.

We have finally made a start on the small barn

Now the planning has come through and with the approval of the building inspector the work on the small barn begins.

First Melv looked to level up the floor and he built a retaining wall in what is currently the entrance to level up to.

Then in goes the new floor - a mix of cement and flooring grit.

8 tonnes later Ruby gives it the thumbs up.

Next it is a new opening inside, which will be the link between the entrance hall and the kitchen.

Our attentions then go outside, as Melv looks to knock out the opening for the large patio doors that will reveal the fantastic view down the valley to the Quantocks.

Guess what we will be doing for Christmas?

All the planting in the orchard is done

Finally all the trees arrived and are now in the ground, 12 in total - two plums, two pears, one cherry, two cooking apples and five eating apples.

So how many fruit trees make an orchard?

A perfect time for a spot of tree planting

Any excuse to avoid Christmas shopping...

We were both looking forward to getting some structure in the garden and of course to reap the rewards for our planting. But we were going to have to work for it, first it was a case of breaking up slabs of concrete that covered some of the area where we wanted to plant fruit trees.

Fortunately Melv had the help of an excellent piece of kit from a friend of his and he soon made progress.

It wasn't quite breaking up rocks in the hot sun - in fact quite the opposite - but it took a while to remove it all. But looked good once it was done.

First we planted a line of birch on the boundary, as a wind break and to provide a tall hedge.

Next it was the thorns and dogwood for a hedge around what will be an orchard, with a variety of fruit trees.

As the ground was so stoney we cheated and Melv whizzed around with the digger to make the holes.

The chicken were in their element and often actually in the holes - any chance for a quick meal - loads of worms, loads of protein - loads of eggs!!

We ran out of daylight - but at least managed to get ready for planting the fruit trees tomorrow

and of course the chickens did their bit.

Great News - our planning permission has come through!!!

Today our architect phoned to say that the amendment to our planning permission has come through - which is brilliant news - we know what we will be doing this Christmas break!!

As optimistic as ever Melv has already set the target date for moving out of the caravan - April 27th - so watch this space...

Cheers - Happy Christmas!!

We're on mains water

Just in time before the weather got frosty!!

All the pipe has been put in a trench through to the caravan

under rubble and walls

which means our shower is hot and of course won't freeze!!

The next phase of fencing works

Now the cows have finished grazing the adjacent fields it was time to continue fencing our boundary. One of the conditions of the sale, we had to remove the existing post and wire fence and replace with a post and rail - which certainly changed the look - a lot smarter.

There was a bit of clearing to do before we started.

But we made light work of the existing fence - it was a lot easier taking it down than putting the new fence up that's for sure!!

After trying the tractor driven auger, which failed miserably, we had resort to the mini digger, for the loan of which we were grateful to the farmer, Paul.

Slowly, slowly we fought through the stoney ground and buried rubble and by the end of the weekend another section of fence was complete.

Both very, very thankful we didn't have to dig the holes by hand - we must be getting old or wise - one of the two!!

Good news on the Planning Permission front

Although we bought the barns with planning permission, there were a few changes we wanted to make to maximise the location, views and accommodation. For example, they had designated the existing garage as an annex and put one of the barns as a new garage, we wanted to swap to it back. But in order to make such changes we have to go through the formal planning procedure, especially as we wanted to alter doors and windows.


We invited the planning officer out for a site visit and she could see no problem with what we proposed, so we employed our architect to get on to it straight away. Well as with all these things it takes time and who would have thought that with in that time the planning laws would change!!


Fortunately our proposal had already been registered and we were OK - at least we thought. Well we finally heard Friday clarification of the way forward and our plans are to be submitted on Monday, so we have got everything crossed that they sail through.

So what is next - well the barns are split into three and we are going to tackle what is to be the annexe, which is a single storey building that used to be previously used as a workshop. To give you an idea of scale the ground floor area equates to same as the total floor area of our 4 bedroom house at Godney.


The idea is then once this is complete we can then move in and out of the caravan, ready to tackle the two large barns in comfort.


Let me show you round...

This is the front - with two en suite bedrooms to be built in the open fronted building to the right.

Come inside to the living room

and open plan kitchen

and finally the entrance hall and bathroom



Melv started work on the outside as we bide our time for the permission to finally come through.

But lets hope now it won't be long...

'cos Melv is itching to start.

Patience brings progress

As the sun gets lower in the sky and the days shorter I look back and think it has been over 3 months now since we moved into Mill Barn and although a lot has happened and we have made good progress we are still playing the waiting game. That is one thing you learn when undertaking restoration projects - it all takes time and it is no good worrying about it.


For the first time last week when I looked to purchase something on the internet - our address came up - so that was a step forward - as an unregistered property things tend to get difficult when you try to change your address to one that the computer insists doesn't exist!!


The permission has finally come through for our water supply - so that can now be installed and we will soon be making the necessary preparations for excavating the trench and installing the pipework needed to connect to the mains. This needs to be done before the winter - currently thanks to the farmer we are taking water from his supply - but this means long lengths of exposed pipe - prime for freezing up as the days and nights get cooler.


So it is all good stuff, but now all we are waiting for are the planners, but that is another entry...

Work on the Dovecote continues...

The recent warm weather has been a challenge for the pointing work on the dovecote. Due to age of the building and the nature of the stonework Melv has chosen to use lime putty - this itself can be taxing, let alone working in the high 20's!!

Melv put hessian up and kept it wet to avoid the lime putty drying out too quick.

The lime putty comes already mixed up in a dumpy bag, Melv then mixes it up with Bidestone grit and leaves it to mature and one of the best containers is a bath!

The Bidestone grit is full of shells and stones.

This then comes out in the mortar and it looks really smart.

It is really starting to take shape, but there is still more to do, the last wall...