Rocking the roccbox

Some left over pizza dough. Made it in to wrap with chicken, lettuce, tomato and chives (all homegrown!). 
Dog wants her share! (she got to lick the dishes).
Love the roccbox - now I have the hang of it. Great for pizza, naan and other things too...

Moving in to the temporary accommodaton

Having moved the fridge and dishwasher last weekend we finished off moving everything we need to be able to cook, eat and sit in comfort in our tiny (but clean, warm and perfectly formed) new living area.
It was hard to get photos that really show how much is crammed in as it is so small you cannot get far enough away from anything...

This is the view from the shower. Although there is now another unit crammed in, to the right of this one so you cannot actually see to the fridge.

It appears we have hundreds of dogs as there is one in each photo 

The super swanky new kettle. You can set the temperature it heats to so you can make green tea with 90degree water for example.

This is the induction hob small cooker. We are almost certainly going to get an induction cooker in the main house when we get to doing the kitchen so keen to try it out. It worked well for popcorn!

You can see from this photo that the heat is not as spread out as on gas. I think special pans would help it spread out more evenly but it was fine anyway. This is a much loved steel pancake pan (as I will be in London on Shrove Tuesday...). I think 'proper cookers' rather than this mini one might have a bit bigger induction areas anyway, but I need to look in to it some.

The next bit of the house to do is the bedroom which is above this. It is partially done but needs the electrics finishing as well as a ceiling and floor adding and finishing touches like a built in wardrobe. Before that though there are various things on the land that need doing like some fencing and cleaning up some fallen trees and branches so that we have firewood for next winter and the one after.

Flight home booked

Although I am very much enjoying seeing lots of my bro and friends and even enjoying stretching my brain at work, I am really really missing Doug, Poppy and home. I am finishing work soon and have booked a flight home on the 23rd October. A friend and neighbor is dropping family off at the airport that day and can pick me up - super convenient.
I have to confess to Doug that despite instructions to spend NO MONEY while here I have bought one or two tiny (huge) things. On the whole I have been very good I think - I haven't got any new clothes, shoes or handbags. I have got a bike carrier for the back of the car (it is meant to fit on the tow bar - we shall see), a wool duvet (yes I know we have a duvet, I couldn't help myself, I thought it might help you sleep better, the people PROMISE it will), some new bike lights for us both (they are super bright and USB rechargeable - how cool is that?), a head torch and some reflective arm bands (for safety horse riding in the dark).
Obviously it cannot all come back hand luggage so will have to be shipped before I leave. I hope to add some food items and a load of chillies to the list in the next 12 days before my departure.
It is strange actually, thinking about it I still have nearly a 1/3rd of my time away from home to go, but it feels like I have been away AGES and I am going home SOON.

Home

Looking up the one of the fields

View from the house

Is this the look you are going for modam?

Yes YES that's it. The grungy rustic dirty half destroyed took to perfection - I LOVE it!

But at least it might keep the drafts out...

Awwwww sweet

All hail the fridge!

I never thought I would get so excited about kitchen appliances (although I did like our fridge in Camden and the cooker too). Darty (nation wide company who do electrical goods of all sorts, the dishwasher and printer came from them too) made it up the newly trimmed drive and delivered our super new Samsung American style fridge freezer (with ice maker and water dispenser when we get them plumbed in).

Heat Wave

We had a lot of rain in June and July (tail end of the same weather systems as the UK had). There was still more rain in August but we have also had a number of sunny days. We seem to be in a bit of a heatwave now with some forecasts saying it is going to be 36C on Saturday (but most being more reasonable and saying 30 in the shade). Things still look very green though as it seems that when the sun shines for a few days we get a thunderstorm to wet things off again. It was very noticable driving away from the mountains to get the sheep that it gets much dryer as you go further away.

The house is still staying relatively cool downstairs - the benefit of 65cm thick walls. Upstairs is roasting through as there is no insulation inside the tiles yet (that is planned for the current phase of work).

With the sun the sunflowers have come out - tiny bit of planting that is not aimed at eating - although maybe we will get some seeds. Pretty and useful.

New Kitchen Furniture

The main two pieces of storage in the kitchen both left a bit to be desired. One smelt rather odd and had draws that drove me mad by refusing to come out then suddenly crashing out at high speed (waking the puppy - let sleeping dogs lie). The other was a wonky piece of crap and about to collapse under it's own weight never mind the weight of the food, plus it wasn't puppy proof so couldn't have anything on the bottom shelf and despite that she nibbled stuff on it.
They have now both been replaced and relegated to the outdoor kitchen.

Just been delivered (old wonky shelf on left)

New shelves (with puppy proof door)

New dresser (with more storage and less smell)

Outdoor dining

We ate outside the other night in the wood shed area by the house that we cleared to be our 'outdoor kitchen'. It obviously isn't in it's final state at the moment, it needs a better floor and the walls sorting out and some kind of facilities but it worked well when we set off to have a bbq and a storm blew in and should be equally good for shade when it is sunny.
Doug looks a bit tired because of the hell puppy needing to go to the toilet every 3 hours or so during the night.

We have a quote on the way from the roofer for a new roof in slate to match the main house - it has rather a lot of holes at the moment and the wood supporting it is rotten. If we go ahead with that we won't need the giant pillar in the middle (doesn't look intrusive in the photo above but it actually is rather in the way)

You can see from this picture why the hedge needs trimming *slightly* (ie a lot). There is a lovely view behind the hedge...

Aidan trimmed another part of the hedge - this is the look we want here also (ie chopped completely down so just stumps remain)

Happy Birthday Lorna

You can see her as a baby on her blog. I was sorry not to be there, one of the downsides of being a bit far from home (and of the menagerie).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY. Lots of love and kisses from your loving daughter!!

Hot water!!

We have adjusted the pump (that lives in the deathtrap barn) so that the pressure various from 2 to 3 bar instead of 1.5 to 3 bar (I never thought I would be so interested in how water pumps work...) because the 'death boiler' didn't seem to like the variety in pressure and so switched the gas supply off every time the pump fired (about every 30 seconds if you are having a shower...).

It isn't ideal as the boiler must be about 30 years old and rather far from complying with current regulations. In addition we have discovered that the tank that the water from the source is collected in is only about 160 litres (500 or 700 would be more realistic) so we have to be very careful as the pump dies if it runs dry.
On top of this, due to the marvelousness of the electrics, if we run any other appliance (eg dishwasher or washing machine) the fluctionation in the power supply affects the pump power which means the boiler decides to cut off the gas. So no showering while anything else is going running...

It doesn't show well in the photo but this is looking in the hole at the side and out the hole at the top. The plumber nearly died laughing when he was looking at this bit, probably even if we spoke French we wouldn't have understood what he was saying through the hysterics (although he did kindly adjust it for us while stressing we were using at our own risk...)

Someone has to watch the boiler while the other showers so it is not a very long term solution but it is better than the bucket for now.

The planning process has decided we should speak to the plumber this week or next about future plans.