1 JULY 2008

Apologies for the long absence. Combination of frustration about the WordPress picture upload problems (fingers crossed that is now sorted as there are some great photos) and 10 days in remote, heavenly Applecross (www.applecross.uk.com) in north west Scotland.

Anyway, there is much to report.

Around the front door, the foundations for the porch have been laid.

Part glass and part weatherboard, with a living sedum roof, this will be a place to hang coats and store boots and beach paraphernalia, ideally with a few shelves for scented pelargoniums, succulents and other plants that will enjoy the warmth. Facing south and operating on solar design principles, the idea is that the side windows will allow the low sun in to heat up the interior in winter, while in summer the (mostly) solid roof and opening velux roof light should stop it overheating. We’ll hopefully be able to use it to help regulate the temperature inside the house, too, throughout the seasons, by opening or closing the interior door.

Then, when you walk inside, the annoying division that cut up the central space between the carriages (a vestige from the time when one half of the house was rented out to holiday makers while the rear was residential) has been removed. Hurrah!

(Notice how Wilma the dog has managed to muscle into all of the pictures. Still, like all lurchers, she is very photogenic… ). Anyway, demolishing this wall, which we had always wanted to do but feared might be supporting something vital, such as the roof, now makes it clear what a fabulous, open and light space we are creating. What you see at the far end are the supports for the wall and door into the utility room and larder (our former kitchen) and opening for the woodburner which will sit against the wall directly opposite the front door. Then, turning to the left towards the garden, you are greeted by….

… this rather wonderful space which is going to be our kitchen!

The roof at the far end will be glass, conservatory-style, with a run of tall opening windows along the back and french windows flanked by more windows on the left, which will open on to a large wooden deck for eating out in summer. The sink, fridge, cooker and counters etc will run along the north-facing wall on the right, with a few cupboards below and open shelves above and matchboarding or tongue-and-groove behind, and there’ll be a refectory-type table on the other side. I’d like shelves beneath the windows which could be used to store books and so on, with either plants or seating cushions on top. And the curved end of the carriage compartment on the left will be preserved as a shallow dresser with narrow shelves for glasses at the top and slightly wider ones for plates and so on at the bottom. We were pleased to hit on this idea for retaining the presence of the train in this way, and may even attach another of the top curving sections on the wall opposite to show where the carriage would originally have ended (if you rememember, after much deliberation, we did “cut out” two compartments here in order to open up the kitchen).

The bold move has certainly paid off, as the space is quite something, as I hope you will agree. Looking back the other way, the double doors from the sitting room with the curved ‘birdcage’ windows in the roof now open straight in to this space, with room for a sofa along the train wall in front of the woodburner, where Wilma will no doubt want her bed positioned. And the run of windows above will let in the morning sunshine from the east.

Looking back towards the front door, you now get an unimpeded view of the five train doors with their solid brass handles all the way down. We’ve taken the lower white line of the mouldings on the doors as the level for the windows in the conservatory end of the kitchen and also for the porch, which should give the space some continuity. Sadly, the lovely old French woodburner in the main space has had to go, but will find a new home in Frank’s “den” in the garden – no doubt the next project. Three lovely old four-column radiators have been ordered – one for the central space, one for the sitting room and a long low one to go under the kitchen windows. We’re pretty hardy and reckon that with the woodburner, too, we will be ok with just this and a few hot water bottles in winter – if you open the bedroom compartment doors a while before bedtime the heat does spread into them.

From outside, it still all looks a bit of a mess, with the remains of the removed section of carriage causing people to ask if the white bit in the middle is going to be a bathroom (why I cannot quite figure).

But it is beginning to shape up nicely, in my opinion. Imagine, if you can, the new windows in place, the walls of the train freshly painted in white, and the new additions like the conservatory/kitchen and porch clad in locally-sourced larch or douglas fir (which contain their own natural preservative) weathered in time to a silver driftwood grey).

And then there will be the garden to do…. the chickens to keep…. and bees….

Still, there’s plenty to get on with in the meantime…. Like getting the rest of the roof sorted, installing the solar panels and laying a wooden floor throughout. And trying to get the ancient telegraph pole replaced and shifted away from the back door. I’ll keep you posted….. (as it were).

These pictures seem to have gone in without too much trouble (if slowly), so I have filled in a few of the gaps in former posts where I was having problems.

I hope to be back again with further progress before too long.