Some major steps ahead today, ably assisted by Matt and a six-tonne digger from Dorset Plant Hire.  Matt tidied up the entrance and ripped out the central post of the existing gate ahead of the delivery of stone to improve accessability in and out of the site.   This means the skips can go tomorrow and … More 23rd November 2020

Yesterday Chris saw a Salisbury Caravans lorry on the M25 carrying a static in the direction of the M3 – a good sign!  Phil Buttress has finished cutting the grass so we can see the lie of the land properly.  The short grass might put the roe deer off – at the moment we can’t … More 20th November 2020

We know our architect, Lauren at Inkspace in Wimborne, through our friends and neighbours, Jeremy and Caroline in Woolacombe.  The layout and design of the house by Lauren and her colleague, Phil, is progressing well.  It’ll run along much of the western end of the site, mostly single-storey and covering part of the footprint of … More 18th November 2020

Hull is the centre of the UK’s static caravan industry and it’s in chaos due to the lockdowns and interruptions to the supply chain.  Apparently there’s one factory that has fifty units finished and ready to go except they don’t have windows.  We ordered ours at the end of July so we hope we’re now … More 17th November 2020

Delivery of the caravan has been delayed yet again, this time till 25th November.  We’re fed up now of constant delays and excuses, so we’ve decided to cancel if this deadline passes.  Because of cancellations due to lockdown, we can now stay on at Chilver House for an extra week, but after that, we’ll have … More 13th November 2020

Clinton the electrician came, full of suggestions and solutions of how to get temporary power to the caravan.  Henry, on part-time furlough, came and gave us a day’s labour and we tidied up the area for the caravan and made way for its delivery sometime next week.

A first: a sighting of an albino pheasant. There’s not much birdlife in the garden as there’s not much to attract them in, but today Bev watched a group of crows harrying several sparrowhawks harrying a buzzard.  There’s one sparrowhawk who’s a regular visitor – we’ll call him Percy. The ivy-stripping is revealing sone beautiful … More 9th November 2020

Dulcie is getting used to the new place …. Ivy-stripping starts with cutting a foot or so from the base to allow the ivy to die.  We can’t pull too hard to remove the roots as this could remove more of the mortar than we need to or worse still, might dislodge the coping bricks … More 7th November 2020

We’ve stored stuff that isn’t too precious in the bungalow temporarily but will need to relocate this to the caravan, office and storage units that we’re planning to install on-site once the roof starts coming off.  We need a fresh planning consent before we can demolish the bungalow and must have a bat licence from … More 6th November 2020

Our new neighbours must be wondering who’s moved in as the garden and garage contents from Salisbury and Woolacombe are dumped in the garden.  Looks like a scrapyard!  The hardstandings for old poultry sheds and stables provide the perfect places for our temporary set up of caravan, office container and storage.