Before / after

Saturday/Sunday/Monday have been ceaseless shuttling of our belongings from the cottage and stables into the house.  Mercy, how my shoulder muscles ache.  Anyway, it's done now.  Thanks to John for reminding us of the baseline.  This was before:

And this is after:

 I reckon we've survived it well - and no divorce papers have been served either (yet...)





This is what it looked like as we started to move in - bathroom and guest bedroom

and main living room

Saturday was ridiculously warm weather for moving house in December.  This gave us the excuse to collapse after lunch with a coffee and the bifold doors open enjoying the view.  Ignoring the wet mud in the foreground, that is.

By this evening it has cooled down enough that we have been unable to resist firing up the logburner which needs to be run low and slow for a bit to cure the paint finish.

We have now moved just about everything in (still using the washing machine up the road mind you!) and have the house pretty much in order with the exception of the office.  Done the main Christmas food-shop.  Stress levels are gradually reducing.
Oh yes, so, on Saturday, worried that everywhere would run out of nice Christmas trees, we went to our local Christmas Tree Lady who we've bought from for the last ?? nearly 20 years.  As we drove down the rutted track, we could see no trees tidily stacked up for viewing.  'We've sold 'em all' she said '- all that's left is the Norwegian Firs in the field'.  So we wandered round the field, picked the nicest one in exactly the right size, and it was cut down specially for us :)