March 2023

The annexed cottage before the start of works on 1st March 2023.

6 March: The ceilings are removed.

6 March: Site fencing and a walkway have been put in place all around the cottage.

6 March: The floorboards have been removed, releasing 70 years of trapped bitumen vapours.

7 March: Tough layers beneath the floorboards are removed with pneumatic drills and diggers.

7 March: All the windows have been removed throughout.

7 March: This hole in the wall will be filled with a new, dedicated front door to the cottage.

8 March: It snowed overnight but work goes on.

8 March: A conveyor belt carries the bituminous spoils to the rubble mountain.

9 March: The ground has been excavated to a depth of half a metre.

A loo overlooking the woods ...

... because this one no longer exists.

12 March: This was once a bathroom.

12 March: This was the living room with the fireplace on the right.

12 March: This area will be the new kitchen.

12 March: This will be the breakfast area.

12 March: Panoramic view of the living room and the new kitchen on the right.

13 March: The new front door will be at right angles to the existing door.

13 March: The mountain of rubble grows ever taller. Some of it is transferred to skips and carried away, and some of it is crushed down and relaid as one of the layers in the new floor.

14 March: The west end of the cottage. The right-hand window will become French doors.

14 March: The walls have been stripped down to the brick and crushed hardcore is relaid.

14 March: The WC was on the left and the bathroom just beyond. The left-hand window will be bricked up.

14 March: The chimney has been removed.

15 March: The scaffolding is being put in place.

16 March: The scaffolding climbs ever higher.

16 March: Georgie's found a new toy.

17 March: Supplies and vehicles everywhere.

17 March: Reversing uphill around a corner at the same time as manoeuvring a tray of planks above the rhododendrons.

17 March: More supplies.

17 March: Assorted pipes and beams are stored in the garage for later use.

17 March: the Annexe gets a tin hat and the roof is dismantled over the next three days.

20 March: Some of the rafters and battens from the roof.

21 March: A raincoat is fitted, just in time for a long spell of relentless rain.

24 March: The floor is made ready to receive the concrete.

24 March: The concrete mixer arrives along with a pump, ready to pour the concrete onto the floor.

24 March: Mid-morning and it's all done!

24 March: All that remains of the cottage is basically a floor plan!

25 March: The sea of concrete has dried overnight. This is the kitchen and breakfast area.

25 March: Front entrance looking towards the stairs.

25 March: Walk through from kitchen area past the breakfast area and the living room with the hole for the French windows and then on to the lobby with the WC on the left.

29 March: Brickwork above and below windows.

29 March: The bottoms and tops of the new windows will be higher from the ground than the old ones.