OK so what’s all this fuss about? Why have we been squirming with excitement/anticipation/fear for the last few weeks?

Well, we’ve been and gone and done it again.

We’ve bought another tumble-down old wreck of a house and now have to deal with reinstating it to its former glory! Why have we done this crazy thing? Well, it’s because our little cottage was only ever meant to be somewhere we spent our leisure time, not our whole existence so when we tried to squash the whole of our big house in Sandhurst into the cottage, well, it quickly became apparent that it simply wouldn’t go.

I must say, tonight as I left the cottage, I had more than a hankering to just stay there. I love that little place and I’m very proud of what we’ve done there. In fact, I feel guilty and disloyal by moving on again.

The reason for being here is simple – this is the larder – it’s half the size of our entire kitchen in the little cottage. This house has space for us to work and play alongside one another without being cramped. It has a studio and an office as part of the whole. Now we can work then shut the door to the office and play.

Today has been stressful – a catalogue of mini ‘disasters’ has befallen us, including:

A crashed van
Discovering that all of the bedrooms are awash with damp
No key to the garage so DMs Lurker is still on the street tonight
The previous occupant not leaving when she was supposed to (so we had to sit outside waiting for her to go)
The garden is absolutely chock-full of dog crap – so bad that you can’t actually walk across the lawn
The water was off so we couldn’t make a cup of tea
Darkness coming way too soon so we’ve only got done half what we were supposed to do today
The bathroom sink doesn’t have a waste – it has a bucket under the sink, as we’ve just discovered!

Etc etc etc

Of course these things always happen when you move but it doesn’t make it any less stressful or tiring.

So, in the last year, we’ve done more than our fair share of stress-inducing activity and I do admit that it’s all been brought on ourselves. But this is the last major part of the jigsaw. This place may be tumble-down but we’re not going to start ripping it apart, well not for a year or so anyway – we’re treating ourselves to a well-earned rest from DIY.

What’s the worst bit? No bed to sleep in tonight – that comes tomorrow. What’s the best bit? An acre and a half of land so I can really get my hands dirty and start to step up my bid for self-sufficiency. I have a vague feeling that we are ‘Tom and Barbara’ from the Good Life in disguise though I suspect that DM wishes I was a bit more like Felicity Kendal than I actually am……..

Last year, we were still lamenting the win that wasn't!