Living the Dream Ludlow style

Singlespeeder

Todays work ...chimney is pretty much repointed.
I've replace the eurolock in the conservatory door so that's secure again.
Not building the woodstore until we have  a working log burner. Bob turned up with a perfect register plate which is in situ. We need to locate the stove under it to mark the flue location and cut that, hopefully tomorrow We might even get the new flue in so the wood store may be built sooner rather than later!
One nice discovery was to see 6 asparagus stems growing in one of the veg beds

Singlespeeder

We've got the liner in and the stove connected up!! I've cut the hole in the register plate and that's ready to be fixed in place.
Rain and wind have otherwise stopped play. Hopefully get the pot fitted on Saturday.
Got my 2nd vaccine tomorrow but annoyingly got to drive to Northampton to get it so it'll be a "got nothing done" day....

Singlespeeder

2nd Jab went fine, no side effects
Chimney pot and cowl fitted, a very tidy job, and all the flaunching done. Off to get a 'lid' for the other pot just to stop birds and rain getting in.
We lit a lovely fire last night and rearranged the room to best appreciate it. Such a cosy place to read a book.
Also ordered a delivery of logs which will hopefully arrive tomorrow.
The cat seems to be getting used to the garden a bit, though doesn't venture too far at the moment, which is a relief tbh.
What else have I done .... 
- removed an eyesore of a satellite dish from the front of the house... we've also de-aerialed the roof , 3 gone so far with a 4th in an awkward spot on the apex.
- replaced  the 'return' springs in the conservatory door handles so they now sit horizontally, rather than drooping.
- retrieved a loose slate from the gutter and refitted it where it's supposed to be.
- fitted a blind in the future bedroom, one still needs fitting.
- continued my search and destroy mission against the ubiquitous bindweed , I suspect this will take a while.
- planted a lovely Aquilegia / Columbine 
We went out yesterday, went to visit Ledbury, a lovely little town.... well it'd have been lovelier if it was open. I'm about fed up with this rain, I just want the summer to arrive.
We're trying to follow William Morris' advice "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful" .... we've a way to go yet !
 

Singlespeeder

Got a log delivery today ! It's nearly June and we've enjoyed our log burner being lit in the evenings, seems wrong. We've now used the little bit of dry wood we had so ordered some yesterday and it's coming this morning. Bought a wheelbarrow in preparation yesterday too.
Also bought and fitted a rain stopping cowl for the other chimney yesterday too.
Nearly pay day too which should give us another £500 into the Overpayment pot taking us to £2000 in there... I think we ought to be paying it off every month rather than saving up a bigger chunk. We do have mitigating circumstances, and we're being a little cautious in these first few months.
The window people have taken £250 off the windows to cover the damage to the table and we're happy with that, it just goes into the house pot.
Also hope to get the ball rolling with the changes to the Privvy / steps / RoW ...this will involve legal fees and Land Reg fees so best hold some back for that too.

Singlespeeder

Morning folks...
yesterday was quite productive
planted the (what turned out to be 6) free raspberry canes we picked up on a local walk
also planted a blackberry plant in a gap in the hedge in the orchard
planted runner beans and potatoes in cleared bed.
I'm really after rhubarb but need to wait til autumn I think
The asparagus are coming along. We're leaving them this year to see what they do.
 Also mowed the moss.
And we slept in the summer bedroom last night for the first time. It's the summer bedroom as there is no radiator in it !
Pay day in 2 days !!  
We might be getting completion on my partners mums house next week, if so, we'll hopefully make our full 10% overpayment, some £13,000 which should make a good dent in the mortgage

Singlespeeder

Morning folks from a sunny Ludlow ...
Managed to get the rest of the front facia and soffit, de-ivy'ed, sanded and primered yesterday, then spent an hour or so on the scaffold fitting (or mocking up) the guttering....
Nothing new occurring in the garden
Window people are returning to correct a couple of things on our snagging list... then we'll pay (- £250 for the table damage) 
Bob T. Builder is finishing the pointing and thus the chimney
Cat not happy as she's being kept in while the interlopers are about.

doingitanyway

Just caught up on this diary. Wishing you well in your new home. Ludlow is beautiful. 

Singlespeeder

Morning folks. 
Todays wise words - don't leave the runny honey pot in the microwave with the lid shut. OMFG!
Yesterday my now toy arrived .... a Husqvarna S2800 Splitting Axe !!! It works !! Henry Ford apparently once said "chop your own firewood, that way it warms you twice" ...he's not wrong. Typical, the day we get a cubic meter of firewood delivered, the weather changes and we don't need a fire. Now I have an axe to create more firewood, so I expect the weather to be excellent from now til Christmas !
Patio doors snagging list sorted and doors paid for 
I've potted on the biggest Jalapeño plant into the conservatory (I'm informed it's NOT a greenhouse. We'll see )
I've always had this thing with growbags, especially with tomato plants... instead of using them as designed, flat with 2 or 3 holes cut in the top for the plants, I rough them up a bit so the compost expands, then cut them in half and stand them on end, like a bucket. I just feel the plant roots would appreciate more depth than width..... the tomatoes seem to do just fine in them too!
My search and destroy war with the bindweed continues... I seem to be doing ok in the front garden, but turn your back for a second in the back garden and the little buggers appear in a flash !We watched the cat (she's 12 or 13 ) shimmy up a laurel tree to a height of maybe 10' then make her way onto the summerhouse roof, presumably for a better view of Ludlow Castle, or maybe after birds. She wandered around for a bit, climbed back into the tree and lost her nerve. After 5 mins of futile coaxing, we had to pick her down out the tree. Cats heh!
Payday today. I always enjoy the 5 mins it takes for my money to move from one account to the Starling.
As y'all probably know the Starling account has a central 'pot' and as many side pots as you want. The central one is where the money goes from when you use the card or make a bacs payment. The side pots are for different saving funds. So we have a House pot , and an Annuals, Bills, Food, Chimney, Mortgage, Solicitors, Diesel,  Overpayment etc
We leave £1000 exactly in the central pot at all times so we're unlikely to ever have any payments bounce for insufficient funds (mortgage is £700 so covered ok).When a payment goes out, we top the central pot back up to £1000 from the appropriate side pot. Might not work for everyone but it's good for us.
We now have £2000 in the Mortgage Overpayment pot ..... I think we should pay it off the mortgage, but we may be able to pay the full 10% (£13k) off in the next few weeks, fingers crossed, it'll be cleaner to do it in one hit, then that's us done for a year, just save into the OP pot and wait for the Anniversary (next March/April) and hit it again for maximum benefit .... that's the theory anyway.
Bank holiday weekend. Hoping to get the guttering done on the front, and dig the rest of one of the veg beds.

 

Singlespeeder

A sunny 'Morning Folks' from Ludlow. Fabulous weather, got quite a bit done, guttering is finished, loads of tidying in the garden, asparagus is up to about 1m tall already, I have 2x courgette through, and the tomatoes are looking good. Cleared two veg beds... planted a jasmine...
Also went for a glorious walk out of Leintwardine.
We also released a rescue hedgehog, it had been bitten by a dog and nursed back to health at a Hedgehog sanctuary, as our garden is pretty big and not fenced, it's ideal for hedgehogs. So off she went, never to be seen again ! Hopefully she's realized our garden is hedgehog heaven and has stayed in the area.
 

Singlespeeder

Afternoon folks ... after a lovely morning we have rain in Ludlow now ... garden will appreciate it I'm sure.
Had a fantastic ride in Mortimer Forest last night, so many great mountain bike trails
Planted 2 more courgette seeds today as only two have come up.
Struggling to like the cat at the moment ... she's brought us 3 baby blackbirds over the last two days, totally mangled the one today. I'm not a cat person anyway and this makes her hard to like. Sorry all you cat lovers, it's just them being cats, I know. It's why I don't much like cats I guess.