And... breathe....

After the frenzy of last week, it seems we have hardly moved forward at all this week, but in fact it's just that the speed of build has returned to normal. The Polish team stayed with us on Monday and Tuesday to finish off bits and pieces then they left, so we were down to around 6 on site instead of 16.

So what has been done this week?

Painting has started...

And now the end of the house is painted - we LOVE it.

We've had lots of neighbours walking past over this weekend and they've all admired the colour. It's called Feldspar White, it's from Ty Mawr in Brecon and it's been discontinued. Madness when everybody likes it so much.

The chimney has also started.

It's rather fabulous - a bit like Lego!

There are sections that fit together (with cement) and it just goes up and up and up and up.

We are a little worried that with still two more sections to go on it could be so high that it becomes a local landmark. Maybe we'll paint it with red and white stripes and pretend it's a lighthouse...

On the inside we have a beautiful oak mantelpiece to set off the plastered and painted chimney breast.  It looks a bit high at the moment because the floor is still 9 inches below where it should be.

Landscaping has continued outside - there really is only a little bit left with mounds of earth. Oh, and there's a huge pile of stone and a fire pit too. So not really very nearly landscaped then...

The front porch is ready for tiling - if you look up as you stand outside the front door (when there is one) you'll see tongue and groove oak boarding, it's really beautiful.

A wall has been built near the outside loo, giving a pathway round the back of the music room to the back door. Or it will be a path when the scaffolding has gone - it's a bit of a slalom at the moment.

The scaffolders returned on Wednesday and we now have scaffold at both ends of the house again. And all round the back. This means that we can't open any of the new patio doors. At the moment if the builders want to get into the music room from outside they simply climb through the open space where there will be a window. Honestly - those walls really get in the way of walking round the site.

The shower tray has been wedged into the teensy weensy en-suite upstairs. Once the loo and basin are in place it's going to be, um, tight. Or 'bijou' as we prefer to call it...

And of course it's been Easter. We made the builders an Easter Nest cake (chocolate cake covered in Matchmakers and little eggs) and also did them an egg hunt in the barn where they have their rest breaks. We did wonder if we were being a little childish, hiding a dozen Creme Eggs around the rafters and building supplies, but apparently they were all rushing round like kids trying to find them. Yay!

Blimey, when we think back over all that's happened this week, it's really a LOT!

So what did Guy and I do over the Easter break? Take it easy? Nah - we built a log store.

Here's the before:

And the after:

Purchases:

220 kgs of grass seed. We went for the ‘economy’ seed given the enormous quantity…
Also some wild flower seeds for round the edges. Pretty flowers for the bees we're still planning to keep (if the hives ever turn up) and less mowing - result!
Two HDMI cables. The electrician said he needed them. Something to do with Sky?
Two plants for next to the front doors - Viburnum (dead easy to look after apparently). We should also have the pots but because Guy is now so ancient we’ll get 10% off when he gets his OAP card from the garden centre. Worth waiting for!
A new rake. We sort of wore out the old one.