A Roof that Apparently Does Keep the Rain Out

We went to the Wood again yesterday. It was a misty day and the views were not inspiring. There was still a lot of mud and mess; but things were looking good. There is now a real slate roof, with real steel gutters; and Alistair has worked out a nifty way of doing without extra downpipes on the rear wall where the little roof over the extension is shorter than the main roof. Alistair had left the house open so we could see that the floor has been screeded, with pipes set underneath it for the heating. We could even see where the mat well (that important feature of civilised living) will be. The first stage of part of the ceiling was also there; and so we were able to get a feel for how high the downstairs rooms will be.

The Wood February 2008

I took lots of pictures, but they are not here yet as I have forgotten to bring the relevant bit of wire to St Andrews. I'll put them on later (like now! - Livy). Roy took his camera, but it gave up after half a dozen pictures, as before. But the good news is that we were accompanied by a visiting American scholar, interested in fishing and the Highlands, who seemed very happy to sit in a car for eight hours as the price of seeing a bit of Scotland. He has put some lovely pictures on his blog: http://james-caldwell.blogspot.com/
I particularly like the panorama of the house in the site. There are also two nice video clips (not of the wood) - one with an unexpected narrative including bits about capercaillies. Do look.

We thought the house looked huge. Of course, there are no internal walls yet, so it would, wouldn't it? The utility room is a bit small; but it will do the job. The piano alcove is big enough for two uprights; and the overhead light for my music looks excellent. All the damp timbers seem to be drying out nicely. We were a little bit worried that there didn't seem to be enough space in the timber frame to squash in our 200mm of insulation; but Mary has reassured us about this today. Outside, we saw that the borehole has been tidily cemented. The nymphaeum, like everything else, needs landscaping, of course. Roy thinks he knows where he is going to put his cellar. I think I know where we will be beginning to make our straggle of outhouses, woodsheds and so on.

So the only thing to worry about now is planning permission. Please go on praying.

After we had poked around the house, we walked down to the river, as Jim wanted to decide whether to come back with a fishing licence. I think he might. There are a couple of recently fallen trees which will need tidying up. I have found a very good stone for sitting on and I am planning where to put benches and other sitting (as opposed to standing) stones.

We agreed that the new site is a great improvement on the old one: more connected with the pretty part of the wood, further away from the nearer neighbour, standing well up and commanding better views than from the meadow.

The other news is that we might be changing the name of the house. Roy discovered that tiodhlag has associations with funerals and burial. So? Anyway - we are in discussion about this, and will let you know what piece of interesting spelling we finally hit on.