Week 14

This week has been spent preparing the holiday let, unpacking boxes and gardening between snow showers.

Tuesday Pamela spent in the garden preparing the herb garden and I put the last of the furniture together.

Wednesday Pamela works on the salad garden and starting to sow seeds in the potting shed. I took a trip into Ruse to buy materials for decorating the holistic barn and finishing odd jobs. It takes most of the day what with travelling time and going to different stores. When I get home Borko has fitted the oven extractor fan only to find that it does not work. So off I go again to Ruse to exchange it. By the time I return it is late and pitch black. There are no street lights, trees are strewn across the lanes after coming down due to the weight of snow on the branches and road markings are scarce so driving at night is a bit daunting especially as a headlight bulb has blown on the car. But the store exchanged the extractor no problem which means tomorrow I can get on with jobs without having to go out again.

preparing the herb garden for planting

seeds under old window frames in potting shed. Shelving made from old planks and roof tiles.

Salad garden being prepared

We get a parcel delivery in the afternoon. It is from my sister who has sent has a box containing brown sauce, prawn crackers and drinking chocolate, it is like a Red Cross food box and is a wonderful and very welcome surprise.

Luxuries courtesy of my sister

Thursday and the day started with a gloriously sunny morning and we have breakfast in the courtyard. We also have lunch in the courtyard, a medley of vegetables cooked in Jamaican spices roasted in the clay oven, Today we have just pottered around as the builders have taken a well deserved day off.

Breakfast in the sunny courtyard

Clay oven cooked lunch

That evening it starts to snow!! Unbelieveable. T shirts by day and 12 hours later a whiteout.

The snow has just started

...and we wake to a winter wonderland again

Maizie and Marple love the snow

Pamela has made all the curtains, bed throws and cushions now so we dress the holiday let and begin moving all our stuff into our new home. We spend the entire day emptying boxes from the garage and filling the cupboards in our new kitchen. Lots of items we have no room for so we leave them outside the gates for our neighbours to take if they want to. Two large boxes of kitchen equipment are gone in minutes!!

Marple loves collecting wood for our fire

An old barn door and broken table soon to be upcycled

More shabby than shabby chic but a lick of paint and it will be fine

Some old barrels and tools we found in the barns

Very old table and Rakia bottles found in a barn

The builders are doing the last of the plastering between the beams in the holistic barn. Only a couple more days and they will be finished. The last jobs to be done we will be doing ourselves to save money but also they are jobs we have the tools and skills to be able to do. We are going to miss them so much when they are gone but I think the dogs will miss them even more.