2 down....

The decorating has taken a bit of a back seat to work recently but the lounge at Flat Francis is now also complete. We are undecided on the retro furniture though - if anyone has a brand new free corner suite going... ;).

So here we are...before







...and after...



Hoorah!

In other very important news we had the tv's installed today. There is no freeview in our neck of the woods but free to air satellite saved the day.

For anyone who doesn't know you do not need to subscribe to SKY tv to get satellite tv, as long as you have a dish (or get one) you can plug in a free to air satellite box and receive similar channels to Freeview. They are more expensive than Freeview boxes but it is a much cheaper option than paying for SKY long term. You can of course sign up to SKY for 12 months if they have a good installation offer and then after your contract is up just receive the free to air channels through your SKY box.

This is useful stuff!

Also M&D completed on the Crescent on Friday which went very smoothly and I shall let them update you on it.

Ta Ta for now

Indian Summer

For those of you who greeted the news of our move to Scotland with 'What do you want to go there for - it always rains and the midges are terrible', here are some pictures to put your mind at rest... in truth we have been very blessed with a good summer which has made all the loading and unloading of vans and cars so much easier.



Hanging out the washing becomes less of a chore with a view like this.....

The veggies are doing well despite the attacks from slugs and pigeons. The war on Brer rabbit continues and I have spent most of the afternoon fixing rabbit proof fencing to a breach in the back fence and also to the new gate which hopefully will also stop Rhema and Bethan investigating the stream and ponds at close quarters! There is still a lot of colour and interest in the garden and plenty to keep me busy.

It's not just the cultivated plants which are thriving .......not 'lilies of the field' but certainly growing wild and in my opinion would definately put Solomon in the shade....

Rhema - our intrepid gun dog, when not soaking wet from the stream is usually to be found looking as foolish as ever - this time with a toy lamb given to her by Seth and Charis as a leaving present -it is her favourite toy now and as she seems to have few gun dog instincts I don't think that there is any danger of her picking up the real thing!!

Rhema and I took a break from our labours today for a stroll down to Loch Moy which lies less than ten minutes walk from our back door. We did actually have a couple of days of heavy rain earlier in the month and the level of the loch rose considerably. The small island, although not submerged had much less land visible above water than normal. According to local history, prisoners used to be secured to a ring embedded in the island overnight while their fate was decided. In the morning they were either released or executed - not the stuff that sweet dreams are made of......a rising water level wouldn't have helped much either......

The 'front' garden survived our efforts with the

ride on lawnmower but with the warm weather

is needing attention again .

I fly down to Belmont tomorrow for two weeks.. It will be a hectic time as I am working for ten days on NNU and in the intervening few days will visiting a fabric warehouse in North London with Sarah to choose some new furnishings, helping Tim and Ruth move on 24th and hopefully completing on the house in Belmont on 25th! We are looking forward to Tim, Ruth, Bethan and Toby coming up to stay for a week at the beginning of October.

I was told this morning that last year the first snow fell here at the end of October. It seems hard to believe but the rapid change from one season to the next is something we will need to adjust to. At the moment we enjoy about an hour extra daylight than Belmont but that will have changed by the time I get back. On the plus side......there will be log fires to look forward to and a mobile library that will come to the door if requested, not to mention all those seed catalogues to browse!

Finally we have internet access - unstable and unable to be picked up downstairs on my laptop or the pc but we do have it!!! Sad to realise how much we come to depend on it although I did hear recently that a pigeon was sent off with a data stick strapped to it, the same information was sent via the internet and by the time the pigeon had arrived only 4% of the data had been downloaded!


Random bits of useless information aside.... life continues to be busy here. Having finally managed to get laptop, photos and internet together here are some photos of Bethan being started off early in the veg patch and our arrival with the last van.

Richards Mum and dad have been here for a week having a 'trial run' to see how things might work out practically when they move up next year to join the melee. We have visited the local flower show, attended the church service and been to the Womens Rural Institute and community coffee morning so have started to meet a number of the local people in what seems to be an exceptionally friendly community.


At the house I have sorted out most of the gardening gear and created a potting shed/garden store in one of the stables and have a good selection of winter salad, cabbage, broccolli, and other veg planted in the garden. The highlight of the week had to be the ride on lawnmower being returned from being repaired which gave Richard Joe and Liz some playtime!


The walled garden is still looking lovely despite the attacks of the rabbits. Rhema gets very excited when let in there but as yet hasn't managed to catch one. It may be time to enlist the services of Pete and his gun....

We also had a deer in the paddock - the first we have seen on our land and Richard managed to get quite close before the camera shutter startled it. Sarah has seen what we think was a sparrowhawk and an owl and Richard too has seen some large birds of prey which we have yet to identify. The osprey have now left for warmer climates but hopefully will be back next spring and we are left with the task of discouraging the swallows from nesting in the garage and stables - lovely to see but not very practical if the buildings are to be used at all.

Expecting to complete very soon on the house in Belmont. The remaining furniture has been picked up by a charity and no doubt it will look very different when we return next week.

Update from the Francis wing

I did promise some pictures of my 'accident' with the paint so here they are, I think it says "Welcome to your new home" rather well.

Anyway, the recent decorating has gone well although there has not been much time for it as we have been pretty busy with guests.

Prior to Ruth, Bethan and Toby coming up we also had my friends Paul, Jasmine and their little girl Millie visit which was loads of fun.

So...decorating progress. Joe and I are fortunate enough to have the top floor of the house to ourselves which has 4 rooms and a bathroom.

Our bedroom is finished, living room and guest rooms are pretty much there but my office and the hallway are still bombsites. The bathroom has arrived and is sitting in the hallway so generally it is a bit of a mess!

I am however very pleased with myself as so far, I have learnt how to wallpaper and use an industrial floor sander. The latter is rather exhausting but worth it as once varnished, the floor boards look great!

So this is bedroom 1. The before photo doesn't show the wallpaper in it's true light, very floral and woodchip on the ceiling.

























More to follow when I get around to taking them!
Oh and BT finally connected our phone line and the internet will be up and running on the 10th - WOOHOO!!!