Today was a real milestone, as we went off to collect the freshly milled Douglas Fir floor from Ballytrim Sawmills. All our timber has come from Clarke Cunningham, and we were happily surprised to find that he’d done half as much again as we’d asked for,...
After only a short time I am starting to appreciate the work that is needed to not only manage but to learn the ways to get the most out of a wood fired range. The Doric wasn’t strictly designed to burn wood – rather it is a solid fuel stove, but we have...
After 3 months pretty much solid work, we are finally about to spend our first night in the cottage. It already looks like we’ve been here forever though..The range, bless it, worked a treat, and we’ve had our first meal cooked on it too. About...
Today (in the middle of moving into the house) we headed off to Nut House Hen Rescue to collect four new hens, who were liberated from a caged environment only yesterday. Currently they haven’t ventured out from under the coop, and are being regarded...
It’s been a busy old day. This morning I could have sworn I heard bagpipes, and sure enough it turned out to be the local band heading up the road from the local Orange hall. The horses really don’t know what to make of them at all, but they are very...
Funny how things come along in groups. First we had the local paper over to look at our stove, in the quest for some stories from older readers who might remember living with a range that had to be tended around the clock. Then we got a call from a press agency who...
The work on the house is barely complete and already our thoughts are turning to other (and equally important) things. Because we have a waterless loo, any waste water from the house is relatively clean greywater, which can be put through a reed bed system, before it...
Although it doesn’t have quite the same feeling of outdoor freedom that the composting loo at the farm had, our new compost throne is very fine, and ready to answer the call of nature. I read somewhere that the difference between a compost loo and a composting...
One of the joys of doing Lackan Cottage up has been taking old ‘stuff’ and making something of it. Wherever possible we’ve reused things from around the house – for instance the kitchen units are made from the old ceiling in the extension....
On Sunday we went to Newcastle to see the handiwork of S.O.C.K, (Secret Outside Crochet and Knitters) who yarn bombed the promenade. Their handiwork was very fine, and we got there in time before it was all taken down. You can see more of their work on the BBC website...
A slightly random picture to celebrate the fact that my plumbing initiation is over, and that we have piping hot water from all the taps, heated purely by the sun, and that nothing is leaking, for the time being at least. Of all the jobs in the house, plumbing is...
