September 2024
No going back
Huge changes and progress this month. Our amazing builders went at it and removed all the non-sound bits of the house, dug out the area where the extension will be and generally levelled and prepared the surrounding areas. The foundations for the extensions have been poured and every day a new room appears in brick outlines. It’s very exciting to see such transformative progress and start to see what we’ve had on paper for some time coming to life. It’s quite a definitive step with no going back, and for the moment we took what at least looked like a house to more like something you would tour for archaeological interest!
The front of the house
The Wall
The theory was that the hill that the house rested in was largely made of soil, maybe sprinkled with the odd large rock and some machine debris. When the 9-tonne digger started doing its things and removing all in sight, it soon became clear that it wasn’t soil but bedrock. Not only did that create a headache for the builders and the need to hire a breaker for the digger to excavate the foundations, it also left this outcrop effect or “the wall”. There has been talk of “uplighting it like the Alps” which is not my idea. The architect is suggesting we get a roof on before spending any time or money on what it might end up like, boooring. It does have a majestic, if rustic, feel. Another one to put in the “interesting to see how that turns out” pile.
“The wall” behind the new retaining wall. Which won’t have to retain much as it’s solid rock behind.
Lou for scale in front of “The Wall” and the trenches which are now filled with concrete foundations.
Filling In The Gaps
One of the many quirks of the house is that there were spots where walls had been built in front of walls, creating voids of space. There was one in a bedroom which saw a framed wall built right in front of a window and then this spot on the ground floor in what was the old bathroom. Even stranger was the fact that there had seemingly been a flat rood extension that had been encased by a pitched roof held up by this gable end.
An uncovered void in what will be the snug. The left-hand side is the flat roof and the breeze blocks on the right are the gable end of the pitched roof, with a window that looks onto a wall!
A view of the flat roof, to the left-hand side, the triangle pitch of the other roof can be seen, which also covers up a window in the upstairs bedroom.
Sports Day
The egg and spoon race
Away from the chaos of the build, we were delighted to host a group of our friends who had very coincidentally booked a hen party venue right around the corner from us. Here we are doing egg and spoon races in a very opportune window of bright weather before this rain made its way west. Also, Leicester scored an equaliser. It was so good to have people here, a vision for the future when we can also provide shelter!
For newer readers, the newsletter back catalogue is now available on the website and there’s also a blog on how we have kept powered without being on the grid.
Thanks for reading, love from Hillside Farm x
PS Avvy has been eyeing up which room she might like, so far she’s liking the vibes of this spot.
