Demolition man

We have come to realise that as the floor in the house has to be replaced with concrete beams, at some stage we will have to move out. So we've decided to use our pigsty ( no comments about how suitable!). It's not too big and won't take much work to make it secure and weather-proof. So, on Friday I set to and started to clear it out removing beams and the rotting wood which formed a ceiling on the stys.



I've realised that doing up the 'porcherie' is going to be invaluable experience for when we are working on the house and the barn. Hopefully I can learn by any mistakes I make on this 'test run'; making good the walls up to where the timber for the roof starts, re-roofing, making window frames and a new door, and who knows what else. But the beauty of doing the 'porcherie' is that no one job is massive. So at least it should all be within our capabilities.

Sue helped me finish moving the biggest beams out on Saturday morning and we were able to see the amount of room we will have. Enough to get a bed, a portable toilet, a kitchen sink and work top; so it will be one level up from camping!
We then proceeded to the main business of the day; the veg patch or 'potager' (hope you like these french lessons). Sue has heeded Mr. Titchmarsh and wants to spray the vegetable beds to avoid continual problems with perennial weeds. But of course she needs to know where the beds will be first. So we set off with a big ball of string, lots of sticks and a tape measure....all very technical as you can see. With a lot of laughs ( Sue only tripped over the strings once) we surprised ourselves and got the whole thing laid out in about 3 hours. We are very pleased with the way it looks. Sue will have 39 beds for the vegetables etc and the whole thing will be surrounded with cordoned fruit trees and bushes. And no, we aren't setting up for Market gardening! We may just have to give some away.