INS and OUTS

This month´s post is for those of you who haven´t visited us yet and would like an idea of what our cottage farmhouse looks like from the inside!! We recently took lots of photos with a view to matching them with old photos of the cottage before it was renovated. Haven´t quite finished that yet as I need to take lots more most recent shots from the same position as the old ones.

For example:
The front of the house as it was...

And the front of the house as it is now...

But I can show you some then and now photos of inside just as an appetizer!

The Kitchen.. with new IKEA fitted units as it is now..

and how it was.. this is the view of the top right hand corner it was the cellar and used for storage and for making wine....

and this is the wine tank (opposite the corner in the photo above) which became the counter on the left of the column support in our kitchen now.

The Lounge.. used to be the living area which was mainly kitchen (behind the white wall) and had a fireplace in the corner. The stairway now comes up to this floor from right to left along the white wall in this photo, from the kitchen below, and the window on the right hand side is now in the upper hallway.and this is how the lounge looks now.... (well half of it anyway) in the section behind the white wall above! The patio doors replace the bricked-in windows above and lead onto the front veranda.We have got three bedrooms, one on the first floor, which is our bedroom and has a door onto the veranda..and two in the attic with a communal area in between them

There are also two bathrooms, one in the attic next to the bedroom above and one on the first floor, but we have another shower and loo in the utility room which is on the ground floor.

The attic was built onto the main granite structure and did not exist in the original house. Neither did the utility area which was built beneath the extended veranda and onto the end of the front of the house.

BARN UPDATE

Well the left-hand section now has its windows and the vellux in and has been rendered. YES!!!! and the gallery is in and boarded over......

So we are now focusing on completing the interior structure of the other side of the barn ....MORE IN A FEW WEEKS

"Now is the month of Maying....

"...when merry hearts are playing" according to the folk song, so it is fitting that our first "month of May" post begins with some heart-felt news.

We are delighted to announce that James and Adela are engaged. Following his huge success as best man at Richard´s wedding and obviously with the ambience of the occasion still in his mind James proposed on Friday 2nd May in Milan and Adela said yes!

Congratulations and all our love to you both and thank you for making our name month so happy!!! Now we have another wonderful wedding to anticipate probably sometime next year according to James.

And on the home front we lots has happened on the quinta over the past month.

Garden First!!
Despite weird and wonderful weather we have an amazing selection of wild flowers all over the place (some of which we still can´t identify) and some of our cultivated flowers have brightened up our unseasonal wet weather. Here´s a small selection of our photographic record....

WE KNOW THIS ONE..... AND THIS ONE

NOT THIS ONE...
NOR THIS...

NOR THIS...
The vegetables in the various patches are growing fast ...

and I have been working hard to develop a new rockery at the front of the house next to the barn conversion.

The rockery before...

And now... The garden areas have become overgrown like blazes because of the unseasonal rain and as fast as I weed and clear one area I have to revisit others. So gardening takes up most of my time these days.

Also the Elders are in full bloom so I have been busy making Elderflower cordial along with marmalade from the early local oranges. I have decided to make labels for all my preserves to make them look a bit more special. Here are a couple of examples.

It´s great fun and it´s a nice way to celebrate the hard work of making!

We also have done a lot of field work, fencing and tree planting, not to mention planting round the pond, plus we have loads of bugs and critters in the pond too...Over to Fraser

Well, the pond is blending in well, due to the vast quantities of rain making the surrounding vegetation grow at a phenomenal rate. The fish, now expanded to 7 due to two small brownish jobs escaping mission impossible style from the reservoir via a 3 foot drop and a pipe into the pond... we'd have 8 but, sadly, one didn't make it.

The colonisation of the pond is also going at a fair lick. We have resident salamanders and newts making homes in and around the waterlilies. Our local dragonflies have found it and are industriously laying eggs. There are a lot of species, think I need a book on dragonflies. Here's a few.

We get quite a few birds of prey around here too, including what we think was a booted eagle being harassed by crows over the local town. Then there's this one I photographed over our house in 2006. At the time I thought it was one of our Black Kites but looking at the photo now...

If anyone can help with identification leave us a comment please.

We'll catch up on barn and land developments in the next blog...once it stops raining! Aaaaarrggh.

Spring Wedding - Richard and Jo tie the knot

Although in their 30´s I still call my sons - the boys! So, as Mum, seeing one of them get married was amazingly emotional.
The wedding was in London on 5th April and was such a memorable and happy day.
After a romantic and emotional ceremony we wined and dined .
The guests were predominantly friends and few family which gave it a real party atmosphere and the bride and groom were both beautiful
I have just posted pictures because I don´t really have words to express the atmosphere - it was perfect.

Welcome to the family Jo.

James (my oldest son) was best man

Two happy Mums

Sanya was the second best man, but certainly not second best!

I met Richard and James´ step brother and sister, Harry and Emily for the first time.

After cutting the wedding 'Cheeses' - as opposed to 'Cake'
The bride and groom cruised onto the floor for their first dance............and we partied the night away.

The sign at the venue said it all for the happy couple...'you make my heart go boom boom'