Burbling V8s in Roskhill

No, it's not my Jaguar XK8 yet,,, but cars like these are probably even more scarce than Jaguars on Skye... A group of Germans have brought five beautiful Chevrolet Corvettes to Skye, four of them dating back to the 1970s. The group are staying at Roskhill House, next door. Here a video of them setting off this morning - in the drizzle - for another day out exploring.

As for us - without doubt, our everyday life has returned pretty much to normal after our winter of living elsewhere while the Barn works were underway. We are now fully immersed in the holiday season, with lots of turn-rounds to do, and the associated laundry to wash and ironing to get done. Although we are not having visitors here at the Barn any more, we now offer short breaks at two of the cottages, so this usually means two turn-rounds a week at each of them. But short breaks are very popular, so we are likely to continue  to offer them.

In between the turn-rounds, we are both finding time to keep on top of the garden maintenance and I seem to be mowing lawns quite a bit! I am also continuing to do bits of DIY around the Barn, and have completed the shelving in the new big wardrobe as well as the cupboard in Sue's playroom. My garage/workshop is a more useful workspace now too, as I have built-in a bench, and added shelves and a tool wall.

More Progress at Roskhill - the Garage

Part of the works that we had done at Roskhill this past winter was to have a garage built. Although we have managed without a garage for several years, I have missed the convenience of having a decent space to work in when attending to things like lawnmower servicing or furniture repairs.

I also happen to have the belief that garages are meant for the undercover parking of a car - and it will be a bonus for Sue to have a warm car to go to work in on the cold dark mornings when the winter returns.

So, I am pleased to report that I have now taken a van-load of junk to the dump, and put up sufficient shelves and cupboards in my garage and shed to enable me to store the rest of my 'bits and pieces' neatly enough to leave space for a car - or, in today's picture - my van.

One day (soon...???) it will be my 'toy' Jaguar standing there, and that car will be stored in the barn at Summer Cottage for the winter, which by then we will have emptied of our furniture - much of which is still in there just now!

Finally - just for the record - here's a picture of the allotment as it looks today, with the potatoes all coming along nicely, onions looking OK on the right, and peas and broad beans visible in the further distance. Sprouts and broccoli plants are still in their pots in the cold frame. The runner beans are up, but once again look very yellow and sickly. Is it something to do with the acidity of the soil perhaps? They came on OK last year though, so I'm hoping these will grow-on too.

Garage tidy at last!

Just for the record - the allotment, today

Roskhill Bluebell Wood

Well, we have the bluebells, but are a bit short on trees...! The bluebells are growing on the large triangle of land which lies between the allotment and the river gorge - the gorge is to the right on the picture below. I have been keeping the area clear of unwanted vegetation for a couple of years now, though leave it 'naturalised'. I have planted a few trees at the top of the bank on the right, and they are doing fine, though they are too small to see in this picture.

This is the same patch of land looking in the other direction, with the river gorge on the left. The yellow flowering shrubs are gorse.

And while I'm here - here's an angle on the Barn which we seldom photograph. The little road which serves the half dozen houses in Roskhill runs between the allotment and the Barn. The building behind the Barn is the original farmhouse to which the Barn was once a part. 

Barn Works Latest - Progress, but slowly!

Now that the visitor season is fully upon us, servicing the cottages, attending to laundry and mowing lawns takes priority over everything else. Unfortunately this means that I am not achieving a very high rate of progress with the numerous finishing off jobs in the Barn.

However, today, I have completed the tiling of the kitchen, and we are pleased with the result. The walls above the tiles and the ceiling are still to be painted, but that is a quick job (once we have decided what colour to do the walls...). Then there's the floor to tile - but painting comes first.

The rough-cast window wall be painted white,
and the beam above will remain natural,
but we haven't decided on the colour for the other walls yet.
There will be two shelves on the wall to the right.

We decided to tile the splash-back behind the hob