There and Back Again!
There are times at the Dower House when even the spectacular scenery, wildlife, people and wonderful way of life is not enough!
That's how it was for me in October, 2 years after buying the Dower House, when I found myself snapping at everyone, struggling to smile or organise myself, let alone the other people involved and making mistakes in ordering materials.
When one morning Gary said it was rubbing off I knew it was time to take a break and go back to Mum in Dorset!
I went for 10 days and ended up staying most of November.
Perhaps I was tired, or perhaps there were so many friends to see!
I am back now and have my optimism and focus back, so thank-you friends on Islay and in Dorset we are moving ahead and still on target thanks to a few clever, dedicated people.
There are many things in life that you may take for granted, hot and cold running water, flushing toilets, doors, ovens and cookers, televisions, light switches, heating...well we made the choice to live without those things for 2 years and while Nick and Jenny seemed to thrive, I had had enough. I said I wasn't coming back until we had a bath. 2 days after I got back the water was finally connected thanks to Lee and Nick, who have spent many hours working it out and making the system work.
Jenny and I each wallowed in a long bath that evening.
We decided a photo would be inappropriate!
Nick has been manually controlling the pumping of the water into up to 3 tanks a day to keep our water supply going and if he forgets or gets distracted the tanks can overflow. Think what that would do to Gary's new plaster below! We have had a few close shaves!
October half term we had visitors and of course before they left we all climbed the Fairy Hill.
Lottie, Mark, Ben, Ollie and Mikey
Ben and Ollie
Mikey and Lucy half way up!
Ollie, Lottie, Lucy and Ben at the top,
you can just see the Dower House behind Ollie
Wet feet again...
Often behind the scenes, Nick has been working tirelessly on the Dower House since he arrived in February 2012. He, like all of us is still learning and often ends up doing things the hard way, though I remember, his work mate Derek saying he always does things the hard way!
Drilling holes in walls through a 2' thick hard stone wall for the plumbing and vents. I'm afraid for the last few Gary resorted to bashing holes through in some places and refilling around them. This was not always possible!
Angle grinding, making the register plates for the fire places.
Nick carries over 100 sheets of plasterboard into the house before it rains...
Filing the end of a toilet drain pipe...
Cassie waits for a seal...
A beautiful Rose...
Paddling...
Bob and Jan stayed on Islay for most of October and kept me sane. Bob gets involved, He and Nick are off to Topsy's to knock a ceiling down ready for Gary to plaster it the following day.
We needed a new lintel for a window,
Bob is explaining to Nick how he intends to make the mould
It worked!
...through the bedroom window...
Insulating the floors...
Floor boards in the kitchen and my beautifully curved wall...
I insulated my bath with expanding foam, it works a treat...
Nick tiles the fire place hearth and surround.
It was so difficult to decide how to make the fireplaces and I personally find it very difficult to visualise how something will look unless I see an example. So we often rely on Gary to patiently give us lots of options, and finally we make up our minds.
We have used slate in many of our designs and colour schemes as it blends so well with the house stonework and obviously the roof.
Gary built a fire wall to divide the house and make it much safer.
This is a double skinned wall made of concrete blocks with insulation built right up to the roof.
He had to cut away the stairs to the other side.
Buildbase didn't have the right blocks, so, to keep us moving they sent us heavy concrete blocks, which Jenny then had to carry up the temporary staircase all weekend, higher and higher. They were both exhausted at the end and not surprising, I managed to carry less than 10 in 2 separate sessions, there were 140!
Jenny mixes mortar, which is not to dry and not too wet or the boss will complain!
Nick peeps over for the last time...
Jenny as always is left to clean up ...
Just occasionally we get some leisure time, Nick chose the day a storm had been blowing from the SW to go out for a paddle for old times sake...he did admit to being a bit scared!
His Sunday leisure time is spent chopping wood...
When Gary runs out of work our side he rebuilds another hole in the wall on Sandy and Tom's side. This was a very cracked, hollow chimney.
B Mundell Ltd deliver most of the large items on Islay and this was the bathroom tiles arriving. This month we have started ordering fixtures and fittings, which is exciting, but the prices are scary!
December 2014
On Islay we have had a lot of rain, it has rained and rained, which is fine if you have solid walls and a wonderful new roof...except we have to keep as much out of the house as possible, if Gary can't see the wood for the trees he can get very grumpy...usually with Jenny, even though it's often not her fault at all, who can it be?
So he helped us build some excellent shelters for all the tools and materials we needed to store in the summer...the problem was the plastic we got was not good quality and started to leak. This time was the last straw for Nick and he was really down when he found a lot of his treasured tools going rusty and sitting in water.
So this week we built a workshop, by we I mean Gary had a pile of wood and a saw, he measured and cut, Nick and Jenny hammered 1000's of nails in and I moved wood and painted . Nick dug the footings at the weekend, Gordon Currie's man brought concrete on Monday and look what happened after that...
Footings...
Plastic liner for damp...
Concrete...
There wasn't enough concrete, so Jenny mixed a few loads and we found a few rocks to supplement it.
Gary came back on Tuesday...
You are never too old to learn!
Is that my hammer?
They built the framework one day...
...and put it together the next...
I would like to point out that I moved a lot of logs as Nick ordered 1 tonne of coal and had to build a coal bunker over night as well...in the rain!
Gary told Jenny to hold the rafter at an angle to see how it looked...
It was funny for about a minute...
...After that it was very painful...
"...Would you please throw my ball?"
All smiling...
...it rained...
...Not smiling anymore. It's cold, wet and miserable...
They carry on into the dark...
Another day and Gary is teaching Jenny how to make a door.
She's the one with the glue!
...and windows...
Still some painting to do, but I'm getting there
in between the rain and hail. What a difference a week makes!
Happy Christmas Nick!
Back to November
Nick helping Martin with the electrics...
Lee laying more copper pipes...
Halloween at Topsy's, it's amazing how many you can get in a small room, including the pumpkins Ollie and Mikey made.
A fallow stag at rutting time...
More holes in more chimneys...
Made safe...
Our first woodburner...
How amazing it was to have heat at last coming from our first wood burner. Cassie couldn't believe it!
Lucy and I Said Good-bye to Islay
I hoped I would come back to hot water...
Dorset, home to me all my life until we moved to Islay.
This is Hammoon where I learnt to swim in the river as a child and also where I swore on video as Nick and I capsized our K2 at the bottom of the weir in December!
This is a piglet in Manston!
This is my Mum's cat Herbie...
...and when I got back home...
We almost had hot water...
This is the wood burner that Nick was given when he left
Dorset Tubes after 36 years...
Nick and Lee are lighting the fire to see if it works...
...but it just kept smoking...I had a sinking feeling!
We went to see if smoke was coming out and there was
something black in the chimney cowl...
Lee ran up a couple of ladders and retrieved a bin bag from inside
We did our best to blame Jenny and Gary, but actually we think it was covering a vent in the ground and got sucked up the chimney in a gale! Mmmm...
They tried again and it worked...
I had the job of lagging the pipes to keep the heat in, and the cold out. Every little helps on the fuel bills.
While Gary is working so hard to get our house together, the least we could do was to go and fetch his number 1 van from the mainland. With his permission we drove up to Oban and he was lucky we came back as I just love driving his van! For Nick and I it was a day away from work and driving up the west coast is always a pleasure.
We had a reprieve yesterday as Gary wanted to spend time at home so we knocked off at 2 pm and did what everyone should do at least once. We walked up the Fairy Hill, the sun almost came out in the North and East and as always it was amazing on top.
Jenny is looking after "Monty" the Basset hound for Christmas and we did wonder if he would make it over the very rough ground.
No problem at all.
No problem at all.
We are all going to miss our families this year as we are very spread out, but we will be thinking of all our friends and family, while walking on The Singing sands with the dogs tomorrow. When Katie comes back from South America in January we will have another turkey. Sandy, Tom and Adam are coming up for New Year and we will no doubt be visiting the Islay Hotel. Oh and Gary is back the day after Boxing Day!
Happy Christmas to all of you from all of us!
Mary-Ann
