Sunday, 17 June 2012

WE'RE IN!

26th of May was our moving date. We had the help of our [old] neighbour Dave, sister Jules and a very efficient Polish man and his Van. It was a boiling hot weekend so sweaty work but fortunately we got almost everything across in two goes.



It's been 3 weeks now and we have set up a couple of the bedrooms, Nick's office and the main living area ... everything else is still in need of unpacking and arranging but all in good time :-) Last weekend was spent laying 200m2 of turf - our strategy for simple weed free gardening this year. We can tinker around with flower beds etc in the months and years to come.

And, the verdict so far:

The heating system is taking a little getting used to, we already managed to lock ourselves out of the hot water controls by putting it into holiday mode accidentally and we've decided we'll get the extra hot water loop hooked up (it was installed but not connected) - hot water will be constantly moved around the loop so it is quickly available at all the taps. At the moment we are having to run the taps in the kitchen and main bathroom for some time before the hot water comes through. 

If I could go back in time I'd order slightly bigger shower enclosures and maybe have a planting bed between the greenhouse and the path and if I had a magic wand i'd move shops a bit closer and the A14 further away but ...

The spaces feel great, the light is just fantastic and all the natural finishes look and smell fab (shame we have to mess up the clean lines with all our clobber but we're not really the minimalist sorts).

Being able to open up the folding doors to the greenhouse, the sliding doors from the main living area and the back door out to the patio is amazing and really blurs the inside/outside divide. Temperature-wise on the scorching hot days when we first moved in, while the house didn't feel exactly cool we opened up the rooflights and a few of the downstairs windows and the air moved through the house very nicely keeping everything feeling comfortable. Since then we've had a lot of dull and rainy days, some even rather cool and the house has stayed warm into the evenings and we've been able to throw open the windows during the days.

The oven and hob are very good to use although I still need to buy a couple of new pans for induction cooking. The larder is working well and I have plenty of space in the kitchen for everything except all my herbs - i'm still thinking about that one. Our old dining room table works very well as a kitchen table and we just need to fit a shelf above it for the microwave. The yellow kitchen got a last minute re-paint and is now a more mustardy, rather than lemon yellow.

Still loving the hall and landing with our gorgeous wall, and all the beautiful views from the house, and the feeling of privacy with all the mature trees and hedges.

... I can safely say WE LOVE IT.


Lucky you can't smell the newly dredged pond! The back garden looks great with turf down with the 2 fruit trees provide the perfect place for a hammock and some good shade. 


Bewley lives in the field just over the road. Chris who owns him is on holiday this week so I took him out for a hack today. I really did feel transported back to my teenage years in so many ways - weird!


Fabulous family, right on our doorstep. Mum, Lawrence, Rachel, Iris and Jasper with Nick this afternoon. 



Welcome message change

New welcome message:

Welcome friends and family. It took us nearly 5 years, but here we are ... with a whole new house! This blog records the journey of the build which began in August 2011 and finished (for the most part) in May 2012.

I may pop the odd post on here over the summer, there is still a garage to build at some point, but as you may have noticed I've somewhat run out of steam!! Hopefully see you all round. Love, Kate and Nick x

Replacing:

Welcome friends and family! We've been planning our new house at Girton for the best part of 4 years and we're finally onto the build. The end is in sight and we're looking forwards to seeing you all in the summer for a BIG PARTY. In the meanwhile I'm managing about a post a week here with pictures and descriptions of progress. My spelling is bad - I apologise now.

Old post finally published.

Written on May 18th:

Nick and I are on site today for the first time this week. The landscaping is looking good with the paths around the house finished - the driveway is taking shape and the patio at the back of the house is just waiting for us to supply some more paving slabs. 


The levels around the front of the house have been a bit tricky to sort out because we have to be careful to keep the finished level well below the wood structure. Not a problem at the rear where the ground falls away from the house but here, at the front the level is higher.


Nick sorting out a light shade I bought from a antique shop last year - it has a sprung pulley thing so you can lower the light. The table has been donated to us from my grandfather - it was the table in his office at Trinity college, we can either have it as a small round table as it is here or extend it with a central section to seat 10! Behind Nick on the left you can see the new induction hob in it's box and on the right the huge fridge. Nearly there. 


All our pictures are at the house and I have been putting them around the place trying to decide where they will go. Good fun!


The sand goes down for the driveway. It's a great shape - I love the island with the pear tree in it.