A Castle in the Sky

In March 2013, after years of talking about it we eventually sell up and move out of the city with our 2 year old, Gracie. We both grew up in the countryside and this is what we want for our daughter. So we swap a 2 bed flat in London for a small country pile on the west coast of Scotland that needs a lot of work. I've done a bit of interior design and my partner, Ed has a good knowledge of the outdoors – but we're on a tight budget and we've both got a lot to learn. It's a life time's project and this is a record of our adventure…

Category Archives: country house


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This year’s veg; successes and failures… (Aug 16)

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After last year’s club root disaster (see Club foot! Aug 24, 2013 ) Ed bought resistant strains and this year brilliantly all the brassicas have come through.

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The onions were kept in pots too long before they were planted out so ours didn’t do well at all.  Luckily we are sharing everything and Mr C planted his out at the right time…

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We’ve had a glut of courgettes (we have 3 kinds) and tomatoes – they just keep on coming.   So I’ve been making batches of soup to freeze and tried my hand at ketchup as it uses up nearly a kilo of tomatoes per bottle (it turned out a bit runny for ketchup – I blame the sieve – so I’m calling it relish).

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We’ve discovered that runner beans and peas need to be picked at just the right time – otherwise the beans are stringy and the peas go powdery.

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We have curly kale and cavalo nero – the curly kale tastes a bit earthy but the cavalo nero is delicious.

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We also have house stores.  We pulled up all the beetroot which are now buried in a bucket of sand –  and all the carrots which are now buried in a box of compost.   All the potatoes – we have 2 kinds  – are sorted and in sacks for the winter.

We have more lettuces and parsley than we know what to do with.  The spinach is now coming through, as are the leeks – and the parsnips will be next.     It’s been a bumper year and now we know what grows really well the next skill to master is ‘succession’ – so we have year-round veg.

 

 


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Call the engineer! (Aug 15)

There’s a crack in the lintel of the fireplace in the old kitchen.   If you stand back far enough there’s also a slight bow.

It’s been like this for years but since we took the bricks out I’m a bit concerned it might be getting worse.   As we had a builder round today to look at some pointing on the east wall we got him to take a look.  He took unnervingly swift action (see below, you can see the crack above the left brick column) and suggested calling an engineer, which I did!

Whether the wall needs supporting or not the stone lintel still needs replacing, so excavation of the fire place is now on hold.   Next job is to find a stonemason who can source the right piece of stone for us and get it in – and until this is done the rest of the work is going to have to wait.  One step forward…

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Make-over heaven (Aug 12)

You’ve gotta love a mood board – and at last I’m starting.    One of the previous owners of the house was an architect and he rather fortunately ringed the the walls of the huge main office with large foam pin boards.  Given that we have 28 rooms, 8 different halls and several walk-in cupboards –  all of which need a make-over, these boards are going to prove very useful.   The house actually has 29 rooms but I’m not counting the wine cellar as Ed did this last year (see The most important room in the house Dec 10, 2013)

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I have of course become an avid user of pinterest so for a closer look at our plans go to…


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The tumble-down sheds (Aug 3)

We are putting my nephews to good use while they are here.  They’re working through a list of jobs with Ed that I’ve been compiling for some time.  There’s always a list.

Today it’s clearing out the tumble-down sheds behind the walled garden.  They’re full of junk; cages, bins, broken furniture, bits of old wood and metal.

The long term plan is to use them as potting sheds and garden storage but before we get that far, the back wall will need some attention – particularly above the corrugated roof (see the dark holes in the photos).    Like a lot of work here we just have to keep our fingers crossed that the hole/leak/crack doesn’t get too much worse before we get round to fixing it / can afford to do it…

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The sheds are already quite beautiful  – but in time we intend to add salvaged windows, doors and make-shift skylights;  a collection of different pieces that we’ll pick up whenever we can from local salvage yards.

For now though the boys are helping us to move things on and because they’re involved I can see that their connection to the place gets stronger with each visit.    They are becoming part of the shape of things here.   Slow progress I’m discovering has its own kind of rewards.


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Bringing the kitchen back to life (Aug 2)

Lots of rooms in this house have their secrets and in time we hope to reveal them all, layer by layer.   Bringing the old servant’s kitchen back to life is our first labour of love.   We’ve been excited about uncovering some of its hidden features ever since we moved in and this weekend we make a start…

It’s a tired old room that obviously hasn’t been used in decades but has plenty of timeworn treasure; a huge bricked up fire place with a massive stone lintel (and possible bread oven),  a flagstone floor hidden underneath a glued-down carpet and what used to be a walk in pantry concealed by a partition wall.

_MG_0221An iron ring bolted into the stone surround of the old kitchen fireplace

Back in March Ed took a sledgehammer to the fireplace (see Sledgehammer happy Mar 4) but it quickly became clear he was going to need some assistance.     My 2 nephews offered their services and are now here for a long weekend…

photo4After a day’s work half the fire-place is open, the carpet’s gone and the partition wall is out – which is adding loads of light and space.

IMG_9902The table came from the workshop – it’s ends had been cruelly sawn off to fit the space.   It’s probably the original kitchen table so our plan is to restore it and use it again if we can.

IMG_9904The unassembled bit of furniture against the back wall is an old butler’s pantry that I picked up in a salvage yard earlier this year.  It came out of a georgian house in Glasgow and like the table needs some tlc.  It was the handles that sealed the deal…

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Trying to envisage how it will all come together is a bit of a leap and it’s going to be a tricky space to get right.   Luckily Ed and I have similar ideas about taking the best of the old and making it work with the new.   One advantage of not being able to afford to do everything straight away means that we’ve got plenty of time to make sure we get it right…

I’m now dreaming of  a fire in the grate, coffee on the go, friends up for the weekend and Sunday papers strewn across the kitchen table.  The unveiling of this house is a slow process but we are in it for the long haul and the transformation is underway.

 


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Uncovering the secrets of the walled garden (Jul 16)

When we first moved here just thinking about the amount of work that needed doing to the walled garden was overwhelming.  See – The Walled Garden (Easter Weekend – Mar 30, 2013).     The old vegetable patches hadn’t been tended for years, the green house was filthy and many of the glass planes broken, the orchard looked like it had never been pruned and that winter, before we arrived, the north wall had been seriously damaged in a storm.

Below – the back of the north wall. The repairs were meant to have been carried out by the previous owners…

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 Nearly all the garden was rough grass

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April – and Ed gets started on one of the 2 overgrown vegetable patches…

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The unloved orchard surrounded by mole hills

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Despite the daunting task ahead, we were smitten – and one step at a time, our secret garden is starting to bloom.   Ed has worked a year of magic on it and walking up the winding path to the garden door is now more exciting than ever as there’s such a treat in store…

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We now have 4 impressive plots of burgeoning green; fruit as well as vegetable patches.   This is our main veggie patch

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The green house has had a total make-over and is currently the happy home to 5 tomato vines

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At long last the north wall has been properly fixed with stone and lime mortar; a massive job that the previous owners eventually paid for…

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The moles hills have also gone, the apple trees have been fed and pruned, and the meadow patches are underway – and there’s so much more to come; hedges and paths, flower borders and a DIY summer house, restored railings and replacing a section of ancient tumble-down wall with old barn doors as gates (the search is on…).   It’s a vision of loveliness.   We are one year in and it’s already taking shape.


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Wildflower meadow patch update (Jul 5)

Hot off the plane from our holiday… I go straight up to the walled garden to check on the progress of our wildflower patch.    Visions of poppies and cornflowers dance in my head – but I’m sad to say  it’s not good news.

Something – mouse? rabbit? dog? –  has dug up nearly all of my lovingly planted seed beds.  Now just 3 out of the 18 perfectly formed little plots remain. Oh dear…

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“That’s gardening for you!” is Ed’s reaction which is wonderfully encouraging.

He’s suggesting that I plant some knapweed (thistle family) seedlings he’s been nurturing in the greenhouse instead – but right now I haven’t the heart.   I’m downing all tools while I reconsider my fledgling gardening career.