25 JULY 2008

This post will take the form of a scrapbook, as I’ve just come across some more recent images, and don’t have much time to write. We’ll be down at Building-Site-on-Sea again this weekend, so there should be a lot more to report then. This wide-angle shot shows the new kitchen extension from the south-west.

Behind the apple and silver birch trees will be a large deck where we can sit outside to eat in summer and enjoy the sunsets. Inside, here’s Frank enjoying the view out, beneath the newly-fitted roof windows. They’re made from all-singing, all-dancing Pilkington glass (as well as being double glazed and able to keep out extremes of heat and cold, they are supposed to be self-cleaning, which is just as well, as I can’t see either of us clambering onto the roof with a window mop with any regularity).

And here’s Mary, enjoying a quiet moment with a book in what will be the Utility room, with the shower cubicle to her right and the space for the walk-in larder (currently the builders’ “office”) behind.

We’re camping out in the bedrooms when we stay, among mountains of furniture and possessions all draped in dust sheets. It’s somewhat chaotic, but fine for a night or two. In fact, the lack of amenities can be a positive advantage: though I normally love cooking, it can be very relaxing when the only option is fish and chips on tin plates and cherries from the roadside stalls for pudding. We toast the sunset with a glass of wine (I did have the foresight to leave corkscrew and glasses handy) and light candles when the light finally goes.

Waking up here is wonderful, appreciating the way the morning light streams in through the new overhead windows on the seaward side: a taste of life to come. And at the moment, we don’t even have to open a door to get out into the garden.

I’m still managing to grow a few vegetables. There’s corn andpumpkins behind the gone-to-seed leeks, with more leeks, onions, celeriac, purple-sprouting broccoli and (beneath the basket cloches) winter cabbage on the right – to harvest once we’ve moved in. And we’ve been enjoying lots of strawberries and courgettes in the recycled apple crates by the caravan. After years of “remote control gardening” at weekends, I can’t wait to get started on the garden properly.

Meanwhile, Mary provides us all with lessons on how to remain glamorous while living in a building site. Here she is, having breakfast in a lime green fairy dress and tiara. The girl’s got style.

For more about our railway carriage house, plus books, gardening and other projects, see the pictures and articles at www.elspeththompson.co.uk