It's a bit batty

One of the planning requirements of Monmouthshire is that we have to have a bat survey before we can submit our application. This can only be completed between May and September, so our timing is spot on - if we had been ready to go to planning in October we would have had to wait till the following May. If bats are found or there is the possibility of bats being found, we have to tell the planning people how we're going to protect the bats and look after them. This will inevitably delay things, so we're hoping for no bats.

Our bat experts came on Monday afternoon, set up some kit and peered into the loft where they found... bat droppings. Pooh. Literally - a small number of bat droppings under the ridge tiles. And some older droppings under the insulation.

There also had to be a bat count, so we all sat outside at dusk waiting for bats. It was FREEZING. Luckily enough it was above 10 degrees (apparently it has to be for the bats to fly) and we waited. And waited... Then at last some activity - horseshoe bats and pipistrelles, picked up by the bat sonar  and seen fleetingly in the gloom. What we were looking for was evidence of bats coming out from under the ridge tiles. Nope - didn't get that.

So guess what that means? Yep, another survey in a month's time, just in case the bat droppings in the roof were from summer bats, who won't have arrived yet. We can't yet submit planning, we can't get any costings and we've been advised not to start taking the paint off the outside walls in case the planners get wind of it and think we've started work. So we wait...

Although, there is actually something we could be doing - cutting the grass paddocks. It's a lot of grass so we thought we should get...

A TRACTOR!!  It's brilliant! We've been well advised by our friend Vincent as to what to buy, and we've got a Yanmar tractor, a flail mower, a harrow and a tipper trailer for carting logs around. We've already started moving a huge heap of logs which happen to be exactly where we intend to put a garden shed, and we'll start on the mowing when it stops raining.

As you can see, Guy seems happy with it!

Another stone in the wall

Last weekend Guy and I went on a dry stone walling course - it was at Kate Humble's educational farm, and we were thoroughly spoilt with lovely food and lots of cups of tea. And then we rebuilt their wall...

First you strip it out and lay the foundations:

Then you start building - there's a former for the shape, and string lines to keep the stones level:

And finally the top bit. Then it's time to stand back and admire:

Please do feel free to make admiring noises at this stage. We did!

We've since got back home and looked at our fallen down walls - there are a LOT of them. Still, at least we know what to do with them now...

We're still waiting for our bat survey too, sadly Bat Man got ill, so they didn't come.  Maybe this week.

And Guy was filmed for the telly - we had something we thought would be interesting, we had been in touch, we were invited to turn up as VIPs on the day, and so we did! We were given tea and biscuits, Guy had to go to 'Makeup' and he was filmed with the lovely Clive Farahar.

We had had a valuation by email before so we knew what it was roughly worth. I was standing a little distance away and couldn't really hear but I thought Guy's reaction (given that he already sort of knew) was totally over the top - terrible overacting.  It seems I misheard...

You'll have to watch in September!  It will be one of the two Tewkesbury Abbey programmes.

This week is all set to be exciting - the tractor arrives on Wednesday.

Yes, that does say tractor.

Of Mice and Magnolias

We've been Finding Things.

Firstly we've discovered we've got a magnolia tree in the front garden - it's absolutely beautiful, fairly old and IT FLOWERS! I've never had one that actually has flowers before...

And then there are the mice. They're very cute. We spotted three outside the front window, along a piece of concrete where there are umpteen holes. So presumably there are umpteen mice...

If they're not living in the holes by the concrete they might be living in the very big hole under the house. Oh yes. When Vincent and Sarah visited Vincent noticed that the dining room has a sprung floor. The sitting room has tiles. Hmmm. Then when I was hoovering, Guy was in the lean-to workroom outside the house and realised he could hear the hoover REALLY clearly. Too clearly. There's a vent in what is the wall of the house, he shone a torch in and - BIG HOLE UNDER HOUSE. We have no idea what it is, why it's there, or whether there are any bodies in it. Eek.

So our plan of 'get the Aga in as soon as possible' has gone out of the window - we need to know what's under the floor, we may need to get it sorted out, and then we can do the floors. Sigh. We're getting very good at baked potatoes and beans in the microwave...

The fencing is finished, which is just as well as Mopsi has discovered the delights of chasing rabbits and would chase them halfway across Monmouthshire if there wasn't now a fence in the way. She still tends to look totally the wrong way while the bunnies jump up and down behind her.

See - fence.

We haven't yet taken a picture of the fence by the horse field - it has 3 rails and we look like a stud farm, which was kind of the idea. We love it!

This coming weekend we are on a course to learn how to build dry stone walls. Well, it is my birthday...