Rosewood Cottage was barely a shell when we first spied it from the A359. We fell in love at first sight and couldn’t wait to waterproof it so we could move in.
Two years on and it continues to transform, although far too slowly for our liking. We put the new roof on in March 2007 and new windows in June. The downstairs old kitchen has been extended and we’ve managed to revive the old agar. We even found the original flagstones stacked in the barn.
The barn has now been converted into guest accommodation, the plumbing being the last thing to go in. It wasn’t a moment too soon as we moved into the barn at the start of 2007 while we continued to work on the main house. Jasmin is desperate to take the barn over as her own private “little house” and keeps asking when Mummy and Daddy will be moving into “their house”. Her persuasive techniques are far from subtle and we often find our bed filled with her toys.
We’re now officially country folk. We’ve even acquired an old farm cat who wandered in last spring, ate the Sunday roast off the counter and never left. He won't answer to anything other than the fridge door, so any suggested names will be appreciated. He can usually be found stalking through the back garden or shedding on Jim’s favourite chair.
We’re still working on converting the top floor of the main house and look forward to moving out of the barn next month. Lifting the roof was much more involved than we expected. Thankfully, Tom Reeves, from the local village is a building wiz and has taken us on as his main project. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Our next big project is to finish unpacking and putting together the kitchen. We’re all looking forward to giving up beans on toast.