slow progress

Because the gas monkeys are dragging their heels we cant get connected and that is slowing down the plastering as it is too cold for it to dry out.

But – some rooms upstairs are done …

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Very high stairwell…

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Master bedroom

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Just in case they forget where they dug the trench for the gas … someone has helpfully added yellow paint to our fence. Doh!

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Need wood?

 

IMAG0962Our wood burning stove is fantastic – especially as don’t have any mains gas yet. Heating up 240 sqm of concrete in cold weather is not an  easy task but already the stove is working and taking off the chill.

I have used a UK based company website www.stovesonline.co.uk to get the best advice on how to use our whizzy Supra Gotham stove. And for those of you who want to get some advice on which wood to burn here is a rhyme:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Chestnut’s only good, they say,
If for long ’tis laid away.
But Ash new or Ash old
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.
Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last.
It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E ‘ en the very flames are cold.
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.
Oaken logs, if dry and old.
Keep away the winter’s cold.
But Ash wet or Ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter’s cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
, Fills your eyes, and makes you choke
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould
, E’en the very flames are cold
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread –
Or so it is in Ireland said,
Applewood will scent the room,
Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom,
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry,
A King can warm his slippers by.

Beechwood logs burn bright and clear,
If the wood is kept a year
Store your Beech for Christmas-tide,
With new-cut holly laid aside
Chestnut’s only good, they say
If for years it’s stored away
Birch and Fir wood burn too fast,
Blaze too bright, and do not last
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
And dangerously the sparks will fly…
But Ashwood green,
And Ashwood brown
Are fit for Queen with golden crown.

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Christmas Success!

It was a close run thing but all of the services were on, kitchen installed and we had 12 guests to dinner…. Thanks to all the subbies who worked so hard. No thanks to Kiev Gas.

Will post pics when I can find the camera 🙂

 

 

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