Removing the Central heating system

The cottage had a wood burning stove that we will be replacing, it had been used to burn anything and everything. Mark from Holmes Chapel (a fantastic guy) had been advising us on heating systems and was here for the rip out.

Step one was to drain the system down using hose pipes connected to the drain cocks for the radiators and the hot water cylinder.

Step two was to drain the boiler stove and start to remove parts of it.

It weighed over 100Kg so not easy to move. Step three was to remove the radiators and the copper piping throughout the cottage. This involved much sawing with a hacksaw and pulling up some of the floor boards.

Finally it was all out and then had to be transported off the island using the trusty trolley. Note Nila there supervising it all.

A very hard day's work and Mark only charged us £40 for the job and he took all the metal to the Scrap man....I hope he got a good price for it. I would recommend Mark to anyone in the Northwich area, let me know if you want his number.

A different pace of life

Everything slows down when you are around the river, just outside our front gate are the locks. Keith and Steve were the duty lock keepers today with Frank looking on....Frank is a very solidly built Boarder Terrier.  Here are some pictures of the locks in operation. Boat coming downstream.

Now in the lock, it is about an 11 foot drop.

Leaving the lock. Can you see the Virgin train on the viaduct, I wonder
if they were watching the boats?

As the gates opened another boat was on it's way upstream.

On another note, Nila came face to face with his first swan at the bottom of our garden...after barking at it he looked around for ideas.

Underpinning complete and life is not all roses!

The underpinning is now complete and the 2 big pins are holding up the extension. The guys from Massey's of Knutsford did a fantastic job.

From this......

To this......

We then noticed that the ground around one of the drain covers was waterlogged, fearing the worse I lifted the lid to find it full, I didn't take a picture to save you the horrible sight. I rodded it through to the septic tank and it cleared. I managed to clear the nappies that had caused the blockage. Please note these were from the people who rented the house before we bought it.

After flushing the outside loo to check the flow we found there must be another blockage.  Yet another full inspection hole, only this time it was pretty solid. Yet more nappies, baby wipes and other material blocking it. I had to shovel it into a bucket, this was enough to send Gill and Steve, our neighbour running!

All flowing well now.

Underpinning the extension

The foundations at the front of the cottage have been washed and caused the extension to start to come away from the house.  To stop this progressing the foundations have to be underpinned. First job was to get the sand, cement and gravel to the cottage.

Gemma's dad, Donald turned up with his lorry with the required ballast for the job. Now, how to get it there? It's not like you can drive up to it! Wheelbarrows and the trolley is the only way.

The lads turned up bright and early in the rain to start the digging under the foundation. In no time at all it was dug to 900mm. We then had to wait for the building control Officer to inspect it before the pin went in.

After getting the ok, the concrete was mixed and the shutter put in place. Next pin being done tomorrow

Wild Garlic Pesto

Living by the river has it's perks with available free food; wild garlic is in season and there is  plenty to go around.  You smell the stuff well before you see it, a strong smell that is not unpleasant. It has white flowers and green leaves as seen below.

To make the pesto you need some pine nuts, rapeseed oil (or olive oil), some pecarino cheese (or parmesan) and of course the wild garlic.

Take a good handful of wild garlic, wash it, then pat dry using kitchen roll.
Put it into a small blender with 4 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of grated cheese and a tablespoon of pine nuts.
Blitz in the blender, I like my pesto a bit chunky so I don't blitz for too long. If you like it smoother then blend until you get the texture you like.

It will keep in the fridge for a few days, I will be using it tonight with pasta.

The herb garden

As a change from stripping wallpaper we decided to start the herb garden.  A trip to Eric's in Marbury park followed to get plants, it is more of a nursery than a garden centre so the prices are better. We cleared the garden by the kitchen door and got to work planting rosemary,  parsley,  thyme,  horseradish,  mint, sage and some lavender to attract bees. We put the mint into a pot in the ground to stop it spreading.

As you can see from the next photo, there is still a lot to fill...the pot on the left is a strawberry pot.

Cutting a loft hatch!

After 2 days of waiting the joiner finally turned up with a hand cart holding all his tools. Off upstairs he went and started to cut the hole only for many many years of soot to come pouring out of the loft onto him! He looked like he'd been down t'pit. He did say he was expecting it as he'd worked on lots of old houses in the area.

So we got our first look into the loft to see how the chimney sits with respect to the load bearing wall. As expected it was sat over the rear of the 2 bedrooms. This would be important if we were going to remove the chimney breasts in the front rooms.

The hatch now in place and a good job done by a local tradesman, well worth the wait. No point cleaning up yet as more stuff to be done and a chap coming to discuss the heating solution for the cottage.