So long flower power, hello Space 1999

 The more you do, the more the bits you haven’t done stand out. Do you remember a very long time ago I told you about the flowery windows? All the opaque glass we have is flowery. It's in the front door, the hall windows, the bathroom and it is… well flowery! And we are not! 

As we often do on a Friday evening, we headed to our favourite microbrewery bar in Sandown (Boojum and Snark) and over a few beers and a chippy tea, possibly inspired by the artwork of local artists that adorns the walls, we decided we could tackle the job ourselves. It may have been the beer, but I like to think the creativity inspired us.

We can change the front door panel and several windows, sure we can! While we are at it, we agreed we were wrong previously, we do need a fan in the bathroom (it gets mighty steamy in there) and the only sensible place to put it, is in the window, as the roof arrangement clearly didn’t work (see earlier blog)

I got to work measuring up the door and Ian used his research skills to find a supplier. I do find it incredible how much you can order online that you would think would only be available commercially. 

Picking the design of glass and window did however, take longer. Knowing the impact when it is wrong makes decision making harder - we needed to get this right! Funnily enough the door wasn’t so hard. To make life easier we were keeping the door frame and just replacing the panel with a more secure, and (we think) funkier design, so options were limited to particular designs, although still extensive. We also wanted the theme of simple clean lines and ‘square’ shapes to go with the rest of the house, we found our panel, and in the order went!

Picking the glass was tricky, we got it down to about 3, but then it was hard to choose between them. It needed to be good at it’s job.The hall glass panels are opposite the bedroom, so if the door isn’t shut when I get changed, there is a sight to behold, particularly in the evening when the lights are on… the world is not ready for that specticle! 

Our fabulous neighbours have a very attractive front door and glass panel, so Ian sent me off to inspect it. What glass did they have? Did it work in keeping prying eyes out? It felt a bit odd standing staring at a neighbours door, checking my phone to match the pattern, but  when I knocked on the door to explain myself, they didn’t bat an eyelid. I’m not sure if that is good or bad news for how I am perceived here.

Anyway the pattern was matched, opacity assessed and a decision made.

A few days later the door panel arrived and in it went… very ‘Space 1999’.

Ian made friends with the local glass supplier, and within a few weeks the first window arrived, ready for the fan in the bathroom. Being the super efficient person he is, the glass went in and the electrics set up, ready for the next loft visit, when I could connect it up.

Next was the back door.

And then the glass in the front door pannel.

While we were at it, we decided to add a fan to the kitchen window too.. so that was also installed.

We ordered the glass in stages so we had time for other jobs and some days off, but now the flowers have gone, and we are feeling so much better.

Serendipity...

I can’t quite believe it’s 3 months since I last posted and we returned home from that stunning trip, but I suppose it must be. I’ve been back working, we've been doing a bit more tinkering to make the house even better and this time serendipity (I love that word, as well as the film) absolutely played its part.

The conservatory roof has been a topic of conversation for a while, it’s yellow, and although solid, it doesn’t look good. I love sitting in the conservatory looking out at the stars and have been thinking how much better it would be if we could do that from the living room too. If the conservatory roof was glass, it would be like sitting outside all the time when we looked up and out. How amazing would that be?

We did our usual YouTube and Google searches and discovered it isn’t that hard to replace the roof ourselves as long as the structure was solid, so up Ian went, lifting the panels to see what we had. 

It looked solid, but after a lot of discussion we decided to get the salesman in to give us a quote - yes, we could do it, but it wouldn't be easy and I am back working, so that would help with costs. What a good job we did!

The first person quoted a huge amount, but agreed the structure could take it weight wise, but wasn’t sure about the pitch of the roof. He thought it was too shallow so the glass wouldn’t  work. He needed the surveyor to check. A few quotes later, the story was similar. Glass really wasn’t an option, so we needed to go with the polycarbonate roofing we couldn’t see through and get over the disappointment. 

We’re both fairly pragmatic, you have to be if you are renovating on this scale, and not prepared to spend a fortune just to get what you want, instead of what might work best! Having got the quotes in it seemed a silver reflective panel would help with heat consistency both winter and summer and so that’s what we decided on. Only it was several thousand pounds cheaper if we ordered them online and we did it. 

So we did, or in reality Ian did.,.I was busy working but as I finished my lunch break Ian said he would start the roof, before I knew it the first panel was in.

By the time I finished work Ian looked exhausted and we had a new roof! It looked incredible. Shiny and so much lighter.

However, now it’s been in for several weeks in both very hot and slightly cooler and rainy weather, we realise glass would have been a disaster! Suddenly we have a room we can both sit in most of the time. It stayed a much more comfortable consistent temperature, in fact so much so, that I am now out there working. Ian can cope with the warmer temperatures and I can manage the cooler ones. And no leaks!

Serendipity...     

Every great journey.....

 

……..Begins and ends with a ferry. This time we were escorted by the local police. They often work across Hampshire and the Island, so back and forth they go, we had 2 police cars with us on this ferry. Once again we had perfect weather for the crossing, calm and sunny, with the RNLI practicing as we came towards Cowes, it really did feel like coming home. 

We were however slightly anxious. Most days since we have lived here we have had the windows open as it’s been good weather, and now the house has been shut up for 4 weeks… would there be a smell? We hadn’t discussed it, but we both wondered. Well, we think there was. Not strong, but there was a hint of tobacco as Ian opened the door. Our sense of smell has been dodgy since we had Covid way back at the beginning of the pandemic, so we don’t really trust ourselves on this, but we both got a whiff of cigarettes. It isn’t strong, but it is there. We checked with our neighbours who had been looking after the house for us, and they too thought there might be something. So instead of the usual post holiday sorting out we set to work. There really was only one place there can be any tar left we can get to, and that was in the window trim. Yep inside the window trim. Ian got the big screwdriver and wallpaper stripper blade, I got the rubber gloves, cleaning liquid and UPVC cleaner and we set to work.  Every single bit of trim on the doors and windows came off ( it was disgusting, full of tar, yellow and stinky!) 2 days later (with plenty of rest in between as we aren’t used to all this work) it was done. We haven’t smelt anything since, so here’s hoping!

The good news is the weather was good for a couple of days before heavy rain set in, so we could have that first coffee of the morning in the garden, get the washing done, and tackle the meadow that is our lawn!

It doesn’t look too bad in the photos, but it took 4 goes with the strimmer to get it to a length we could get the lawnmower on it at its highest setting, and another 2 cuts after that to get it under control. The neighbours did warn us it was fertile and things would grow here! Olive clearly loves the climate here too, she's never looked so good.

Having sorted it all out and given Agy a jolly good clean inside and out, we decided we should be tourists for a few days exploring the island. First stop the Donkey Sanctuary.

We both love Donkeys, so we’ve wanted to visit for ages, but work, refurbishment and lockdown meant we hadn’t made it, but it was well worth the wait. Over 100 donkeys, rescued from across Europe, call this home, and they clearly love it. They were honking and braying, looking for head scratches and generally loving life. It's free to visit, so of course we needed to spend some money and the cafe seemed a sensible place to start. Lordy it was a huge portion and delicious! We will be back, and if you come to visit, I suspect you will meet the donkeys too.

Not quite what we'd planned....

Our plan, as you know, was to find a site where we could stop and stay for a while, one with a restaurant on site and hot showers etc. And we found one, near Morcombe bay. Not somewhere we have been and it sounded lovely, so off we went. We had a good journey and arrived mid afternoon, checked in and then the lady said “oh by the way all the facilities are closed due to Covid, are you self sufficient?”  Well, we are, but that wasn’t the point of booking, and we’d paid a lot more than usual to get an extra nice site. No other explanation or offer of some money back. Not that it would have mattered, we wanted the site facilities having not had any for a while. I can understand small sites not having the staffing for the extra work, but we only booked this yesterday and not a word was said, and nothing on the website! So we checked out, got a refund then wondered where to go.

Lots of places were full, so after a bit of driving around, calling sites and generally getting a bit fed up, I rang Martin Mere Haven site in Blackpool, and they had a space! It was half the price of the other site and had all we needed. We weren’t planning on Blackpool, but it wasn’t too far and I was sure Springwatch came from there a few years ago, so we booked in and what a beautiful place it was!

It was perfect. Just what we needed. Quiet, but with enough people not to be desolate, all the facilities we could want and next to the mere with so much wildlife, just perfect. We read our books, sat out in the sunshine, snoozed, and walked around the mere.

We could see the Tower from the site, so decided to take a trip to the seaside, just to have a wander, with a bus stop in front of the entrance, it was all we needed for a few nights rest.

Even if Blackpool isn’t your thing, I’d recommend the site. We even got to use our new Cadac gas BBQ for the first time. 

While we were there, it became clear Covid cases were rising and heading home was probably sensible.  The last thing we needed was to be caught up in a local lockdown, or be around lots of people at a time like this, so we made the decision to start heading home, with a couple of stops on the way.

First stop was to overnight with Kate and David again, they were not too far away and the journey from them to Gloucester is a good one, so why not. When I left work, I was given (among many other things) a bottle of champagne from Fortnum and Mason. The truffles that came with it were long gone, but the bubbly had been in the fridge for the whole journey, so we popped the cork and shared it - I mean it’s meant for sharing and celebrating friendship isn’t it? Somehow I managed not to get any photo's of Kate and David again... Must try harder!

Somehow Ian was eaten alive by mozzies in our last couple of days, so clearly I am more tasty to Scottish critters, and Ian to Lancashire/Yorkshire ones, so it made for an itchy journey for Ian down south. 

I rang our usual Gloucester pub stop to check if we could say, but being non football people we had no idea there was some big tournament taking place (!) and they were showing an England match, so we politely declined the offer of the car park and plumped for the Caravan club site in Cheltenham.  What a pitch it was! We’ve had some unusual viewsand stop overs on this trip, and this was a perfect one to end our holiday. Ok it is a car park, but a car park on the race track! It was brilliant and very unusual. With a visit to dad to say goodbye it was a fitting end to our journey.