Last of the Summer Wine

We have been really busy this month as it is our intention to move into part of the house by the end of October and the pressure is on............... The place has been swarming with Joiners, Heating and Plumbing Engineers and Electricians.

We thought we would show you what we have been doing in pictures. Our Blog has been viewed over 1,000 times so somebody must like it!

We have chiselled off the lime plaster off the front and also the lime harling (plaster) off the West side.

 Detail

Heating is serious here and the gridlock of pipes is incredible!

We are trying to clear up the dead wood. It is helping us build up our wood stock.

This is a fraction of the pile of vegetation that we are burning to clear the grounds.

The new Guest entrance road which we put back through the trees is now settling down and is now usable (even if a bit rough)

Paula's Crocuses in her new bank are still holding up.

Paula has started clearing a second patch near the North wall - quite a struggle.

The Stable block is coming along 

The internal walls and partitions are now being installed. The builders have a sense of humour as you can see from the skylight that has been installed in the slated roof.

We have managed to buy old Victorian doors. 

We also bought a pair of double entrance doors from Aberdeen and a Georgian fanlight from Elgin. They will become our new front door - at the moment they have been photographed lying on the ground!

Paula now has all mod-cons - a washing machine in the outside toilet! It works well, even if unconventional!

Our Stonemason, Paul Westmacott, restored a farmhouse for a friend of ours about 10 years ago - they built an effigy of him in an outside wall!

Summer is over and this month has been the wettest in 30 years (we really have had records broken this year). Scotland boasts having 75% of all the Heather in the world. The plants are tiny, but the Tweedy colour is most beautiful, if not abundant.

Here is a montage picture of the Spey Valley as seen from our caravan.

We are lucky to get this picture of a huge Salmon caught in 1895. What is important is that it was taken on the original front steps of our house. See the note on the back :

The town of Aberlour a few miles away celebrated it's 200th Anniversary last weekend. As with a small towns, the main road goes through the town. Here is a picture of the main road with the town Square.

We have been asked for pictures of surrounding places. This is the town of Cullen on the North East coast. These fishing villages are very quaint, but the Scots here have such a broad dialect that we have the utmost difficulty in understanding some of them! The Viaduct which goes around the town can be seen behind the houses.

Cullen's Main Road goes down to the sea - one can see the Viaduct. The town square on the righthand picture.

Hold on! We are doing everything possible to move in by the end of October - we hope to put out some pictures then.