Sunset from Hill House, Mount Helen. February 2024

Friday, August 22, 2014

What to do now

We had a lovely time when Pat was here.  We went to two farm shops (I think Pat has been collecting farm shops while she has been in England) and had a pub lunch, a Sunday lunch at home and lunch in the Chatsworth farm shop restaurant.

And then, suddenly, she was gone.

What to do? What to do?

So we turned this


into this


We had been wondering for some time what might be behind the green tiles that covered over where once there would have been a proper fireplace.  Turned out there was plaster and behind the plaster, bricks.  The Builder made a hole in the bricks, enough so that we could see through.



And there, covered in rubble, was the original fire place.


The Builder has got out as much rubble as he could, but stopped taking the bricks out - partly because we don't want a gaping great high hole behind the television but mostly because we didn't want the entire chimney breast to come a-tumbling down.  We've been to a fireplace shop in Clay Cross to have a look at what there might be in the way of proper fire places.  It seems we can't have an open fire unless we do lots of expensive structural work to the chimney.  But we can have a wood burner, and new tiles and a wooden mantelpiece.  Well, we can when we have saved up a bit more money.  Wood burners are a bit more expensive than I had realised.   But we can take the bricks out.  They assure us that the house won't fall down if we do  But we still don't want a gaping big hole behind the television so we'll wait until we can afford the wood burned.

So then.  What shall we do today?

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