Progress

Time flies but one year into the project we were making good progress on the external work. A Some welcome early spring sunshine, and strategic felling of a couple of trees, allowed the light and air to do its work in curing the lime renders to a bright and sound finish all round. Painting the sills and front door helped breath some life into the house. 

Cleaning the septic tank revealed no hidden horrors and the drains were modified to pipe in the grey as well as black water (rather than running sink, bath and washing machine into the garden). We pulled out what had passed for a kitchen and fitted new worktops, sink, storage and extractor fan and were finally able to realise our vision of washing the pots with a view of the mountains through our new window.

With more functional services in place and milder weather attention turned to some landscaping. Having opened up the plot to the road to make room for the heavy machinery the main task was to rebuild stone boundary walls, fit gates and lay the base for a driveway and courtyard.