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.

Fungus and Catkins

Had another lovely but decidedly soggy walk in the field today and, despite it being January, there is still so much going on with broom in flower, catkins on trees and leaf buds in evidence. I guess a hard frost will put an end to some of it but enjoyable whilst it's here..

Beautiful fungus... going to need a fungus book for identification purposes!

After walk, home to warm toes by the log burner, still a novelty having only been installed just before Christmas. Who needs TV when you have one of these? New house will definitely need one of these, though wondering about having a wood burning stove for cooking too...

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!