Work starts

Have had a break and now back....!

Permission to disturb the dormice finally arrived a fortnight before planning permission expired. Big and Little Mike, the trusty builders, landed on site a week last Monday armed with brush cutters and strimmers and proceeded to spend two full days chopping back the undergrowth along the roadway, and a metre and a half around the building to facilitate works. All of this under the watchful eye of the Dormouse Man who was there to ensure compliance of licence. The youngest of my flock, Ezra, spent some hours helping to clear the debris, building a large pile mostly of bramble, willow, buddleia and gorse.  My terrace has also appeared from under a huge pile of bramble!

A small digger was delivered on Thursday (Wednesday was a truly horrible day on the weather front so everyone stayed home!) and the roadway - approximately 200 metres of it - has been cleared and levelled and now has a trench to boot.. It's so exciting, though as it becomes more of a reality it is also quite stomach churningly scary... or maybe that is raw excitement!

Before..

The terrace!!!

A beautiful trench!!

Walk around the top field

Despite all this progress, the planning permission has not yet been validated by the Planning Officer from the local authority, he is due on site tomorrow, but Building Control have paid a preliminary site visit today and seem happy that the activity constitutes commencement of works. So, fingers crossed.

Deadline looming

The planning permission on the building expires on 15th February.... that's 23 days.... License to work on land with hibernating dormice is still outstanding and I think I may have to take up emailing/phoning on a daily basis - promised thirty five day turnaround of application is already a distant memory.

To add to this worry, phone call to the architects yesterday reminded me that building regulations are also required and for that I needed a call to the builder and to a structural engineer. The engineer who originally assessed the four walls for the planning permission is possibly a casualty of the recession as I can find no trace of him on the internet or phone directory. Fortunately, Big Mike (The Builder) recommended another to me and a call to John The Surveyor quelled my rising stress levels a little. It seems full Building Regs are not required to commence works and validate the planning permission, but Building Notice needs to be submitted as soon as poss.

This is the view from last week and, indeed, there is another frosting to the landscape this morning. Have two nightshifts ahead of me so hoping the snow clears. After the snow last week we had the most beautiful skies and this photo was taken at about 0745 on my way home from work. Don't we live in a glorious part of the world?! 

Late Start

The walls 

I have big hopes for this year, having bought four walls and some land back in September 2012. There is planning permission for conversion of the building to a one bedroomed house which expires in the middle of February, so there is some urgency to get works started. I can't start until I get a license pertaining to the resident Dormice, currently hibernating. It's going to be a tense few weeks! 

the walls in the field..

on a soggy January 2nd.

The land runs to 15 acres in total, roughly split three ways between pasture, a soggy field containing a great variety of grasses and flowers and the final third has mature trees. Each area has a boundary of  trees, mostly Ash, Oak and Sycamores with a few Beech trees and Silver Birch. There are also a couple of little streams, and the map shows a pond though we have yet to locate it!

The stream, swollen from the considerable rain that has fallen over the last few weeks.

I'm planning to document the transformation of the building and the land, aiming to grow my own food, hopefully living a more sustainable life... looking for a quieter way!!!

Bertie, my Cavashon, 12 months old. He  L O V E S  the field!