Still going, making a house a home...
- Hils B
- Nov 1, 2023
- 2 min read
So firstly, apologies to all those who have been asking what's happened to my blog - I'm truly touched you care!
I've not given up on blogging, but just questioned if anyone was still interested to hear about our antics at Old Dairy Barns. Well, it seems some are, so here we go...
Mostly, we've spent the summer trying to tame the muddy building site into what might be described as some sort of garden. We have chosen a few areas to create true 'garden' and quite a large area for the wildlife. We deliberately left a lot to naturally emerge in the spring to see what we had and were stunned by the abundance of wild flowers and beautiful grasses that survived the armageddon of a 2 year building site!
We just kept on cutting the lawn areas and as the summer went on we found ourselves being quite grateful for the rain which greened everything nicely. Areas we thought we'd have to work hard on became lawn without too much weeding. We seeded some, cut and tamed other bits, but left large areas to do what they wanted and found poppies, mallow, camomile and ox eye daisies amongst many other beautiful wild plants. Even the thistles and nettles rewarded us with the variety of bees and butterflies they attracted. We created a few raised beds out of old barn timbers and filled them with colour. I think a good start to a long journey of forming a garden. I have great plans ... don't tell Andrew, but there's still a lot to do!
As spring turned to summer we welcomed back the swallows and house martins, who returned to their nests and also built new ones. Enjoying their company over the summer months we watched the young take their inaugural flights and then as the summer slipped away, we noticed the last ones had left. Until next year dear friends!
Our work on the building plods on, if somewhat sporadically. August was a great excuse to down tools and take a break from the pointing! We thoroughly enjoyed the visitors from afar and a full calendar of local social events (including sheep racing on the village green!), all of which were welcome distractions from the chores.
Now as bad weather threatens many of our potential outside work days, we wish we'd been better behaved through summer - but what the ... We're getting there!
Looking back though, we've actually done more than we realise with continued touches to make the house a home, inside and out. A milestone of finishing pointing the 'great west wall' this week has allowed me the indulgence of sitting here with my laptop now (despite the fact that Andrew did the biggest chunk of it!). An essential job to make the house warm.
And as the autumn colours continue to stun us on our walks in the beautiful Quantock Hills, we settle down in front of the fire and count our very many blessings.
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