End of two eras

Yesterday was big day for us.

We are happy to say that we finally exchanged contracts on Avon Cottage yesterday and the sale will complete on Friday. We had a great 13 years there and feel like we are passing a piece of history over to a new set of caretakers in a better state than we got it. From talking to Karen and Andrew, our buyers, we are sure that they will take as much care of it as we did.

We are sad to say that Cleo passed away yesterday. The problem with her tooth at the end of January proved to be an aggressive form of cancer and the vet warned that she did not have long left. We watched her very carefully and yesterday we knew that the time had come to take her to the vet, while she was still purring. She was almost 17 years old and we are very grateful to have had her for so long.


Cleo at eight weeks / Cleo as an adult

Both Mark and I are relieved that the stress of the last few weeks is over, Cleo is not suffering and it now feels like a new start in Fairfield Street.

Avon Cottage Empty ...

... but Wandsworth house full!

"Well the move seemed to go smoothly" he said, looking at the chaos around him.


Breakfast room full of packing boxes


Dining room full of packing boxes


Living room full of packing boxes

It took the movers four and a half hours to pack up the cottage. The 17 metre van was full, we literally could not get another item in. And it is now all in our Wandsworth home!

We cannot move; we have two complete sets of *everything*. The bedrooms upstairs are just as bad. It will take a while to digest this lot. A few trips to the local auction house and municipal dump will help. And expect to see quite a few items appearing on eBay, we have already sold a washing machine and a day bed. There will be more to follow...

Oh, yes, and we had a lovely meal at The Food Room and fell exhausted out of the taxi and into bed.

Moving house tomorrow

And as you might expect the run up to tomorrow's house move has been hectic. Mary's Mum, May, flew down from Scotland on Thursday for a "farewell tour" of the cottage. We drove down Thursday night (with Cleo) and worked from home Friday so we would be ready early Saturday to continue the clearing out.

Primary target was the garage: boxing up the last dozen cases of wine, dismantling the VinoSafe, clearing out the accumulated unwanted possessions (or junk as Mary calls it) and doing tip runs to dump the rejects.

Saturday we went to Plummer's Restaurant with Bob&Lynne and Mike&Lynn. Mike deserves an serious award for good neighbourliness. When he and Lynn lived next door he fed the cats, took in the post, checked for intruders when the alarm went off and generally kept an eye on the place while we worked in various locations or countries Monday to Friday.

Even after they moved (about 10 miles away) Mike still used to do all that for little return apart from our heartfelt thanks and the occasional bottle of duty free malt. We have no way to thank him enough for what he has done over the years but we did offer him (and family of course) a free holiday in Italy.

Sunday was a family gathering: Mum&Dad and Ian&Sarah came down, partly house-cooling and partly because Sarah had never seen the cottage. After they left it was more tidying and sorting till it was time for our supper, traditional Sunday roast pork. Monday Mary stayed down at the cottage with May and Cleo while I drove back up to London for two days work. Back down tonight and the furniture van arrives at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning.

We shall have deserved our Valentine's meal out by the time tomorrow night arrives.

House Clearance

Did you know you can get sixteen and a half cases of wine in a BMW 330Ci Sport? That's 198 bottles with no room for passengers! Mind you it doesn't do much for the handling and acceleration. I was breaking gently well in advance of junctions and roundabouts (US: circles).

When we met our buyers two weekends ago ["Avon Cottage Under Offer"] the talk was of completion by Easter, last weekend this turned into "third week of Feb" and by last Tuesday it was Friday 16th. O-o-oh ****, that's less than three weeks away. We still had to clear the house, dump the rubbish, move the wine, ship the furniture, spring clean the place and complete the actual sale.

So we brought the skip hire forward and this weekend, while Mary was in Scotland, I was down the cottage in my blue overalls filling the skip. I thought 3.5 cubic metres (4.5 cubic yards) would see us through the next two weekends. But no. By 11:30 the thing was full.

The rest of the day was spent clearing Jabba the Shed, disassembling the shelving in the loft and casing up the wine from the Vinosafe. The VSP 214 holds a thousand bottles and that means quite a few round trips.

Sunday was preparing the Wandsworth house for the furniture onslaught. Moving furniture from room to room so we can free up the back bedroom as a temporary furniture depository. The 16.5 cases are all safely in the cellar but boy are my back muscles aching today.

Avon Cottage Under Offer

We have accepted an offer on the Cottage so, subject to survey and contract, we will be selling and moving on after 13 happy years there.



We went down to the cottage on Saturday to meet the purchasers and it was a most satisfactory meeting. Moving house is not just a financial transaction, it is an important emotional transaction as well, especially with a house of such history and character as the cottage.

Andrew and Karen were charming and understand the need to care for old things; they are Morris Minor owners as well. Is is good to feel that it is going to sympathetic new care-takers for that is how we consider ourselves.

Now we need to set the wheels in motion for all that moving will entail. High on the agenda is what to do with all our furniture. The house is Wandsworth is fully equipped and now we have a three bedroomed house to merge into it! Some stuff we will include in the purchase price like short wardrobes that fit in the low-ceilinged bedrooms, some we will try and find good homes for and the local auction house will be taking much of our overflow.

Avon Cottage on the market

So the deed is done. Saturday we whizzed down to the cottage for the day. Mary did weeding and internal tidying, Asher helped by clearing the weed patch round the quince and plum trees and I did jungle containment in the raspberry canes.

Then Bob Hill from Wessex Archeology came to inspect the works and draw up a snagging list. In the afternoon we had three estate agents (US:realtors) round to give an approximate valuation.

Yesterday we appointed one to act as our agent and got Bob&Lynn to drop the spare keys round to them. So I guess soon the cottage will be up on http://www.primelocation.com/ and http://www.rightmove.co.uk/ though it might take them a couple of days.

It is going to be strange giving up the cottage. I have always said that the cottage, the cats and Mary were the most important things in my life with work a very poor fourth. I hope we find a buyer who is sympathetic to the needs of a 650 year old home.

Working on the cottage

The weekend was another two days of rushing about like maniacs. Up on Saturday morning to cut the lawn and get through a couple of wash loads. Hang them on the line and then off to Avon Cottage to inspect the progress on the works.

In early 2004 we had all the windows refurbished *and* we had a leak in the thatch which forced us to have the cottage re-thatched (see "Thatch before 1/4" and following). Both of which left plasterwork in need of repair.

We are going to have to sell the cottage. We don't want to but the cost of supporting two mortgages doesn't make sense. So we need to get it in a fit state to sell. Thus we need to get all that internal work done.

Plus the previous owners had been liberal in the use of cement and modern plastic based paints. Not good for an old timber-framed building. While we were about it we decided to do the right thing by the building.



So as well as internal repairs, we are having the walls stripped of the modern cr*p, repointed with lime putty and limewashed with traditional materials. We regard ourselves as custodians not owners and want to leave it in a better state than we found it.

After a quick inspection it was tidy up indoors and take rubbish to the tip, getting the place ready for vistors next week end so they don't arrive to find a building site. Then off to the Salisbury Festival with Bob&Lynn for a picnic in the cathedral grounds, a jazz concert and fireworks. Sunday morning was a quick (4 hour) blitz round the garden targetting the biggest weeds, then off to London for an afternoon of furniture rearranging. By eight o'clock we were distinctly zombie like through sheer exhaustion.

Four beds in four nights (2)

Like the last "Four beds in four nights" it is a busy few days. Friday was work at home at Avon cottage and doing decorating on the Saturday. Then back up to London for a meal out Saturday night. This evening it is off to Oxford for May morning celebrations at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon off to Zurich for three days business trip.

Yesterday Asher finished off the gardening work Nikki began two weeks ago (see "Bodges, we don't need no stinking bodges"


Shed (now green), flower bed (now planted up)


Old rose beds (now turfed over) by Asher (pushing wheelbarrow)

Bodges, we don't need no stinking bodges

"Relaxing" and "Weekend" are two words not often found cheek by jowl in Mary's vocabulary and the Easter weekend was no exception. We took Thursday off work so we could get down to the cottage early avoiding the Easter weekend traffic jams.

Thursday afternoon was spent staining twenty floorboards in the garage and Friday was spent hauling them upstairs and nailing them in place in the loft. Doing which meant removing the rickety collection of planks, shelves, doors and bits of old furniture that had previously passed for temporary flooring. I didn't manage to fit all 20 in the day because I would insist on doing it neatly: there is a level of rough and ready craftsmanship below which I will not sink. I cannot bring myself to do a bodge job.

Saturday we had Nikki down for round two of the garden refurbishment started last year helped by Mary and local lad Asher. He and I sorted out the base of the summerhouse with some planks recycled from the loft and then proceeded to paint it green with the help of Nikki's kids Ben and Rowanna.

In the evening Bob&Lynne joined us for what was meant to be the first barbecue of the year but the rain put a damper on that so we dined indoors. We baked the meats and, instead of grilled vegetables, did some cous-cous at which Bob and I simultaneously said "Ah, the first cous-cous of spring".

Jigsaws like buses

Nothing for ages then two come all at once. Yesterday the second of my recent eBay wins arrived in the post:


The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that I have bid for and won two copies of the same jigsaw. This is because they are both of our home for the last twelve years Avon Cottage. To have a jigsaw of your own home, how cool is that! The second one I gave to May as a present. Not only as a souvenir and memento but she also does jigsaws.

Mind you Fran next door at "Thatched Eaves" is the subject of a 1000 piece jigsaw entitled "Cottage, Ibsley" that comes up on eBay about once a month. She must have a four foot high stack of them in her living room.

Garden redesign at Avon Cottage

Nikki, a friend from CSC, recently took the same escape route that I did some six years ago and is now a person of leisure. Her passion is gardening and so we have commissioned her to do a small piece of work at the cottage.

She spent most of the weekend working in our garden with Mary and I pottering around her. I got co-opted for the occasional heavy bits like uprooting a Kilmarnock Willow.

The primary target was the bed next to the drive at the front and the first thing you see as you arrive at the cottage. Now completely dug out and dug over and re-planted with mostly evergreen silver-through-grey foliage.

In a few weeks time the secondary objective is to re-jig the flower beds at the back, adjacent to the house. That will involve some rose removal and shrub relocation. I have no idea what will take their place but all will be revealed soon enough.

We're moving house

Now the "cone of silence" has been lifted and I can reveal that we are moving house. At first SWMBO said not to tell anyone in case it all went pear-shaped. Even after we exchanged contracts force of habit made me keep schtum.

It is all part of the grand plan to sell Avon Cottage in four years time, clear our debts and downshift to Italy. We would live in the Hovel-in-the-Hills™, reinvest in a UK based property and work here part time. The principle is still good, it is the sequencing that is all to cock.

Discussing where to live I remarked that all the considerations that made us choose Wandsworth for our current London base still hold good so Mary went surfing - "just to check out the area". Our requirements are very specific and, *expletive*deleted*, if the ideal property didn't pop up two weeks later. A unique property that might not come on the market again for a very long time.

What to do? The horns of a dilemma! So we said, what the heck, and we bought it. We are converting the flat into a buy-to-let mortgage, renting it out and we are moving *literally* three doors down the street.

Snagging list

Seems to be a UK English usage. A snagging list details the outstanding and remedial work as a construction scheme comes to an end. Sometime the final stage payment is conditional on rectifying the items on the list.

We had Bob from Wessex Archaeology round yesterday to do a full structural survey. This is all part of the grand plan to "down-shift" to Italy in four years time. Part of that is selling Avon Cottage in order to clear our debts and reinvest.

We aim to make sure that the cottage is in tip-top condition for any prospective purchasers having it surveyed. We don't want any surprises. So whatever this structural survey shows we will use as a "To-Do" list over the next couple of years.

First BBQ of the summer

Last weekend Mary decided we would have a barbecue this weekend come what may. Thank goodness it turned out nice. We had Bob&Lynn round; they brought starters and cheese, we provided four grilled sea bass. We did a sort of v. informal tasting: three different Verdicchios from us and two Vina Albali from B&L (Riserva '99 and Gran Riserva '97).

Most of the weekend, however, was spend draining and cleaning the algae-filled pea soup that our Brass Monkeys splash pool has turned into over the winter. Emptied and sides scrubbed on Saturday. Today I was up and in the pool at seven o'clock (on a Sunday morning!) scooping out the last of the primordial slime and cleaning the bottom.

But now it is all re-filled and sparkling with a dash of chlorine. Mind you I think I will wait for slightly warmer weather before again venturing my t*st*cles into the icy water.

Wascally wabbits

I have just built Stalag 17 round the sweetcorn in our vegetable plot. Those "wascally wabbits" just love tender green shoots. Unfortunately our rabbit-catcher-in-chief, Oscar, is confined to barracks because he also tries to catch our neighbours' kitten (apologies to Will and Sue). Normally Oscar brings us several spring bunny corpses per week to leak blood all over the bathroom carpet. What is wrong with the tiled kitchen floor I want to know. So instead I have gone for jury rigged concoction of chicken wire and bamboo poles. So much effort for 16 plants but when you have that few every one counts.

Brass monkeys

We have a splash pool in the garden which I refilled the previous weekend and adjusted the chlorine level so we could have a dip this weekend just gone (weather permitting).

It was so sunny we decided we had to go for it and, at Mary's instigation, went for the skinny dip option as we cannot be seen from the road. The thermometer read 23°C (73°F) but it was bl**dy freezing despite what the thermometer said. Having mixed up the cold water from the bottom the reading dropped to 17°C (63°F), I can tell you we were not in there very long.

Oh, dear, what can the matter be

Three old ladies locked in the lavatory
They were there from Monday to Saturday
Nobody knew they were there

Having escaped the loft earlier, this piece of childhood doggerel popped into my head. That verse was all I knew. Oh the wonders of the internet and Google. Turns out this is just the chorus and there are three more verses (one per lady). Lyrics for Three Old Ladies. Mind you this hit was buried amongst other pages that I suspect were not suitable for younger viewers.

Get me outta here!

I trapped myself in the loft yesterday. I can't even remember what I went in for. But I do know that I shut the door behind me to keep Oscar out. Cats can hear doors (and tins) opening from an amazing distance especially if it leads to somewhere usually denied them. Unfortunately I must have shut the door a little too vigorously as the security lock swiveled enough to lock me in. In the words of 'ole foul Ron, "Bugrit!"

After 20 minutes fiddling with bent coat hangers and twisted paperclips I gave up when I heard the phone ring and ring and ring. Kicking through a door is not as easy as the balsa wood replicas on the telly make it look. Still the repair will give me a chance to practice my carpentry skills :-(

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly

It is such a beautiful morning I just had to take a stroll to the bottom of the garden. Accompanied, as always, by a supervisory cat - Cleo trotting a few paces behind keeping a watchful eye on me. And my favourite plant in the whole garden, French Lavender, is in magnificent full bloom. I just love the little petals like rabbits' ears sticking out the top, always makes me smile.

How does your garden grow?

Spent much of the weekend in the garden which was a "Good Thing". Mary planted lots of bedding plants and other growing things to beautify the garden. Including two new, wooden, half-barrel tubs as the old ones had self destructed into excellent staves for the fire. I did things I have been wanting to do for ages like:

• stake out the Kilmarnock willow that was doing a "Leaning tower of Pisa" act


• attach a guy rope to one branch of the new plum tree to encourage it to grow in a symmetrical formation


• install grow-bags and canes for the tomatoes (planting in 2 weeks time)


• put in bean poles for the the broad beans (three sets of three pyramidal arrangements)