Going greener........

In the words of Big Cook Little Cook, "time to tidy up and put away" and so Ross has started work on laying some of the hedges. By leaving the hedges to grow, we are able to produce firewood for the cottages and so make a start on reducing our carbon footprint. Ross was telling me, there's not so much call for  laying of hedges and it is labour intensive, but it was good to see traditional skills working their magic. .

Up on the Roof...

Terry Stapleton, Master Thatcher and side-kick Ashley made the most of the sunshine and came to wire parts of the thatch that are being trashed by the Rooks and Crows - apparently it's looking like it may be "one of those years" for bird damage to thatches. So it's up with the bird feeders and out with the peanuts!

Let the dust fly..

New year and time to get started on renovations in Rook Cottage. Whilst folk have loved the "cookieness" of Rook, there's been one too many comments about the access to the double bed and Simon has now dismantled it. It's been great for keeping the fires going, but a real headache as to how we fill the gap. Discovered the reason for the original built in bed was because it sat over the stairs and so space was limited! Haven't quite sussed out how we are going to fit two singles in yet - but we are spending vast amounts of time pondering upon it. Any suggestions welcome!

Here's to 2011

Well we all wished for a white Christmas and boy did we get it! Lovely to see Great Gutton under snow but practically speaking, it's good to see it gone now. Fabulous Christmas with friends, family and guests but now it's time to take the tree down, put the tinsel in the box and start on changes to Rook Cottage.

How many men to change a light bulb......

never mind the men how much scaffold? Greatstone has a fabulous light in the entrance hall, which involves 20 almost unreachable bulbs. Today we decided enough was enough and we needed to replace the blown ones. Simple enough usually but we needed to erect scaffold to reach them and whilst Simon was up there he took to dusting as well - very fetching! All done and now back to their blazing glory - anyone would think Christmas was coming.

There's a hole in my bucket...

well, in our road actually. Cold weather continues and the mains water pipe just outside our main gate burst this evening, flooding the road and causing mayhem. Fortunately the water ran down into the field opposite but with the fear of another frosty night, a team of good spirited workmen came out to fix it. I've just been out on the tea and biscuit run and whilst the road remains closed there is now a huge hole in the road, and I am assured it is being "sorted". We shall see......

Snow is falling....

.....and the pond has frozen over. Caught the heron sitting on the ice having a good hunt around to see if he could find something for supper. Guests have made it through the snow and ice and I see woodburners are all lit already. Christmas tree festival is on in Crediton and I think we shall wrap up warm and take a stroll to see them all tomorrow, just to get us all in the spirit.