Sunday 20 November 2011

Never again!


Only a couple of pictures this week, for reasons that will be obvious.

Here's the view of the site from January 23rd...


... and here's the view from much the same spot on November 12th.

The past week can best be described as mad and hasn't left much time for sitting down, let alone blogging. Moving house is hassle enough but I don't recommend moving to "a carbon-negative, electricity-generating, boiler-free marvel" without nerves of steel.

Over the last week, whilst shifting boxes, furniture and getting on for 2,000 books ("I know there'll be a lot of books to pack, vicarages always have a lot of books") I've had a day's instruction on how run this marvel. In a normal house you move in, sort out the heating timer and bung up the thermostat. In this one we've had information on using the temperature controls and ventilation system, learned what the significance of this gadget is and why some walls have things that look like aliens at the top. I was also part of an hour's instruction with three experts on passive houses which ended with one of them saying "it will be interesting to see how all this works"...

... not the most reassuring thing you want to hear in a stressful week.

Saturday 12 November 2011

Eve of move

So, after nine months, we are about to move in and this is what those four views looked like this morning:



The famous feature window is apparently somewhere between here and Germany and is due to be arriving on site, with a crane to install it, on Monday. This is also the day the removers first come in so that won't be chaotic will it? I suppose we could ask if the crane could lift the furniture onto the first floor.

There are two things outside that will make you laugh. Remember back in April when I talked about the inlet tower for the Rehau pipe system? Well at the side of the house in the first picture and tucked into the corner of the picture from  the south-west corner you can see the two towers. They are at least 1.5m high and I'm just going to have to find a way of incorporating them into my garden design because it will be impossible to try and disguise them. I'm looking at modern gardens from the Chelsea Flower Show for inspiration which is well out of my comfort zone as my normal style is more rustic than clean and tidy.

The other thing that may well raise a smile is our outhouses. I showed the foundations last month and here's the finished product.
Witty comments have included the suggestion that we have a sauna and a query about when the horses are arriving. Personally I'm now seeking the opportunity to tell any visitors that we haven't any room but we do have a stable round the back and I'm wondering about the possibility of a nativity scene next month. Pass me those tea towels!

Although we're about to move in the house isn't 100% complete and the eco garden isn't even10% complete so I'll carry on posting, by public demand. In the meantime, think of me this coming week as all our belongings get carted from one side of the garden to the other and I ponder why we have so much old tat when I'm a regular contributor to freegle and jumble sales...


Mea culpa

It's now the end of week forty and we move in the day after tomorrow so apologies for not posting pictures for week thirty-nine.

In my defence I spent the weekend making up flat-pack furniture and hardly drew breath, let alone stand in the garden and take photos.

On the plus side I'm now the proud possessor of:
three of these

two of these:
one each of these
 



and sixteen of these


...... how's that for productivity?!

Lucky I've got an IKEA Family Card is all I can say.