Pad Stones in now.

A busy day at the cottage with the window guys still there sanding and priming the sash windows....although they were often found on the river bank with the float rods.  They are having a bit of a working holiday; not that we mind as we are paying for the job, not by the hour! Oliver did have a very large eel (about a metre long) that he couldn't land that looked a bit scary.

Earlier Phil from Massey's had done a site visit with a view to putting the pad stones in for the the steelwork.

As you can see it will need 2 beams of 3.5 metres to bridge the span. The hens were very curious to look at the beams.  We had taken the steel calculations to the building controllers in Winsford on the way to dropping Nila off for his haircut......It was like taking a child to the dentist, we had to drag him in there.

The beams will sit on pad stones and hold up the ceiling timbers and most of the house. After a discussion about the height of the beam we settled on 2.3 metres so the stairs line will be level with it.

We also noticed the entrance porch doorway was being progressed too.

Back on the river bank we found this little fellow. I think it's a house mouse, but if anyone knows better please let me know.

Finally with storm clouds brewing, or as we say in Yorkshire "it's looking a bit black over Bill's mother's" we called it a day.

Gone fishing.

What a perfect way to spend a Saturday, the house is now in a state where there is nothing that we can do inside until the builders progress. We decided to have a lazy day in the garden and do a bit of fishing. Imagine the scene greeting those who were walking by the rowing club and looking across the river; all of us on the opposite bank....I mean all of us...Gill and Gem, Nila and all three chickens and me sat with the fishing rod.  The chickens have become much friendlier and love free ranging the garden.

We had some very majestic and curious visitors to the bank as well.

We started a BBQ going and Gill's parents (Sheila and Peter) came over for some homemade burgers and sausages. Steve and Irene then popped into the garden and asked if we wanted to use one of their tables, we are so lucky to have great neighbours. As the evening went on I started a bonfire to burn what was left of the staircase. The heat from it was welcome as the sun dropped behind the viaduct and it became a bit chilly.

Highlight of the evening was Gem catching a decent sized perch using cheese as bait.

By the way you are welcome to follow on twitter @therivercottage

And walls came tumbling down!

This morning this was the view looking in from the back door....

This was the view that met me a few hours later! No it's not a scene from the Blitz....just 2 lads and a sledgehammer.

Not only was the wall gone but the stairs have been replaced by an aluminium ladder!

I took my dad to Stockport to catch the train to Sheffield, this was the view of the house from the viaduct.

Work has started!

This morning Phil, from Masseys turned up to look at the job and then Jack and Donald (Gem's dad) to start the work. We had been worried about the state of the old bathroom floor as it looked pretty bad and rotten. A few hits with a sledgehammer confirmed it was bad.

This will become the entrance porch.

Meanwhile Oliver and Matty from Cheshire Sash Windows arrived to start the windows. They had come along yesterday but this was the result of their efforts...

A large bream....they were looking for carp....anyway today they started on the windows.

They also caught 6 more large bream in their lunch hour.

Upstairs the demolition was beginning with the airing cupboard and partition wall coming down to make way for the stairs and new bathroom.

All in all an exciting day with work starting.

A visitor and more mowing.

Who knows what breed of hen this is?  .........answer at the bottom of the blog.

After taking a break from mowing I found one of next door's hens in the garden. She was so well behaved and sat down ready to be picked up as soon as I got close to her....how I wish
our hens would do that. I popped her next door and carried on mowing.

2 hours later it was all done and I'm very pleased with the end result.

Please note the bath tub in the garden....no renovation is complete without this view.

The hen is a Polish.....did you get it right?

The Nitro Mors Queen

Some of the woodwork in the cottage is the original stuff. We are trying to save as much as possible for re-use once the building works have finished. So Gill has started with the paint stripping and this involves copious amounts of Nitro Mors.

There are years and years of paint on the wood, so much that any detail has gone.

The first stage is using the heat gun to remove as much paint as possible. This is how it looks after the heat gun.

The Nitro Mors is then painted on and left for a while before being washed off using a pan scrubber. This is how it looks now.

Gill will get through several large tins in the next few weeks. Hence the name Nitro Mors Queen.

Here come the girls!

Bright and early we set off for Bluebell Farm near Holmes Chapel to pick up the hens. Still not sure of which ones to get we looked at the new hens in their pen.

We eventually decided on a Columbian Black Tail, a Bluebelle and a Speckledy as they looked lovely. They were then put into the cat carrier to transport them back to the cottage.

They took to their new home well and settled into eating layers pellets mixed with grit.
Nila looked on unsure of the new members to the family. Hopefully Nila will keep any foxes away if he sees them as he is not too keen on them.

After a few hours we went back to check on them and to our surprise and excitement there was our first egg!

Last night we had tried to tempt them into the coop to roost, we used grapes and corn but all to no avail. Eventually they trotted up the ladder and into the coop all by themselves.They are showing character already and sorting out the pecking order.

So far names are:
Speckles......the bossy Speckeldy
Belle.....the quiet Bluebelle
Gloria....the Columbian Black Tail....who is bottom of the pecking order but the one who we think laid the first egg! Although the others appear to be laying claim to it.

Preparing for the ladies

With us getting the chickens tomorrow we thought we had better get the hen house built. The 'omlet up' comes as a flat pack but the instructions are not the easiest to follow. A few tense moments as we struggled to get it to grip with it, but we eventually managed it after 4hours or so.......only later did we find the 'other' instructions that made a lot more sense.
Still now it's up and under some of the fruit trees

Finally an original feature

We decided to remove the plaster from the chimney breast to see if we could find the original arch over the fire place in what will be the kitchen.
The plaster is over an inch thick but the lump hammer and cold chisel began to remove it.

Slowly the shape of the arch began to appear. There was also a RSJ that seems to be holding up the chimney! More chipping and eventually we could see the iron over the arch.

Eventually we will remove the RSJ and this will be repointed and become a feature wall in the kitchen.

Other activities today were cutting the grass between the heavy showers and more steaming off wall paper.