Our first guests arrive.  On my way to the train station the sun starts to shine and despite telling everyone to come laden with thermals and lots of layers the season seems to shift in one weekend. We have blue skies every day, the rooms are full of light and the house feels alive… and warm.

I don’t know if it’s the change in the weather or a house full of people, children and a dog – but it does all feel very different. Various rounds of cooking, grand tours and dog walking ensue.  Being able to have people to stay like this (we had just the couch for guests in London) is one of the reasons we bought this house and for the first time since we arrived I can really see us making a life here.

Ed comes up with the idea that new guests should plant a tree – and they can check on progress when they re-visit. The previous owners left a sapling in a pot labelled ‘apple’ – so our plan is to find a good spot for it tomorrow…

(photo: courtesy of Claude)