hovel – Tyddyn Bryn

Leaks

October 27, 2014October 26, 2014 Ellie

Yes Leaks not Leeks!!!

The same weekend as the building news in the previous post…. Water began to leak from the hovel ceiling….. Now the previous owner had kitted it out in a rudimentary and temporary way, but then had lived in the place for 10 years!!!

We turned on the water, we turned on the heating as normal when we got there (the concrete slabs all round the place like to suck out the warmth and the place can feel quite damp on times)

Then the dripping started…..

It started above the green cylinder in the corner of the room drip….drop…. Drip…. Ugh….. James opened the hatch…..

Turns out the over flow ballcock wasn’t working as it should so the tank was overflowing into the ceiling space and dripping through the pipe holes…..

Thankfully last weekend James and his dad spent the morning taking it in turns to be legs poking out of the ceiling hatch and rigged up a temporary solution to the issue!!! Hurrah!!!! No more drips!!!

Wanderings

Last weekend at the smallholding

June 16, 2014June 16, 2014 Ellie

James and I took a trip to the smallholding last weekend, mainly because he wanted to chop up the rest of his trees!!! I on the other hand took some work with me!!!

Upon our arrival…… Mid Saturday afternoon….. I unlocked and did a customary wander round and found this in the bucket we have been using as a bin!!!!!

Argh!!!! Three dead mice!!! Three dead mice!!!! Yes continue the rhyme along!!! But thankfully they won’t be running after this farmers wife to be nor will I be chopping off any tails thank you very much!! I actually felt a little sorry for them…. Especially the little one all curled up!! They must have fallen in the bucket and died because they couldn’t get out!!!

Well these three dead mice made their way back into the compost heap from whence they were disturbed over half term and I think I must have used a bottle of bleach on most surfaces!!! Also I now have mouse traps and crunchy peanut butter on my next pre visiting smallholding shopping list!!!

As to how they got in….. Well the back wall of the tin hut is basically a black bin liner!!!! So…… Time for investigations and traps!!! And also mental note not to leave any munchables in the hovel!!

Wanderings

Half term antics on the farm

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 Ellie

We managed to get back to the farm on the Tuesday of half term after James finished work and after I had had a day of baking cakes for all our planned visitors and our lovely cat sitter!! So two plum loaves, two Victoria sponges, and one large chocolate cake later we packed up the car with stuff, tools and dogs and hit the road!!

On our arrival we found a new padlock on the tin hut and a note from the neighbours!! Our tin hut had been raided by the police!!! Apparently acting on intelligence!!!! In fact they had wrong address!!! Ha!!!! Some intelligence hey!!!! Anyway our neighbour had kindly secured the hut with a new padlock and was fortunately in when we arrived to hand us the keys!!! Phew!!! And after closing the drawers and righting a few items we were able to unload the car!!!

After unloading we decided to take the dogs for a romp about in the fields and check over the land. We found we have a few Laburnum in the hedgerows that are all in full bloom and looking beautiful even though they are highly poisonous to a lot of animals….. Oh well apparently they also burn well!! So maybe another thing to eventually add to the wood pile in the barn!!

Building work

The little tin hut!

May 8, 2014May 6, 2014 Ellie

Lots of people have been asking to see what the hovel or the little tin hut looks like in more detail!! The previous owner lived here for about 10 years?!?! And this is where we are camping out while we finish the build she started and whilst we spend the weekends working the land!!

After returning to the farm and cleaning off the cow poo from the dogs, we decided to spend the few hours of pre dinner time getting the hovel somewhat habitable again. The previous owner had taken most of the pieces of furniture we had the “luxury” of using over the Easter weekend, as they had now completed on their property buy.

This left the hovel empty save for the old Rayburn, the bed, the sofa and a table and a couple of wobbly chairs!!

I brought some old throws to a. Protect the sofa from the muddy toes and b. Cover up its particularly beautiful shade of bogey green!!

We had brought a small chiller fridge thing, and 2 ring electric hob….

and then found a few bits in the barn for cleaning up and adding to our furnishing array!!! Like a dog bed and a bit of new work top and an old shelving unit from a kitchen install!!

A few points to note…. Yes the toilet is that close to the bed!!! Actually now further away than when she moved out!!!

The shower has corrugated plastic for walls… One of which has brambles growing against it and that’s all really to preserve the modesty of the showerer!!!

Also a slug and a worm joined me in there on Sunday morning!!!

The insulation is either sheep wool or newspapers bits stuffed in crevices or large chunks of polystyrene….

And all the windows are corrugated plastic….

And despite all this I am definitely starting to love our little hovel!!!! Our shelter from the elements and our little home whilst we work the land and finish the barn conversion!!