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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. In the weeks since my last post, the world has turned on its head and we’re all in lockdown.

We keep counting our lucky stars that we completed before that began. It did mean our plans drastically changed, and we moved in weeks sooner than we expected to. Original intention was to get some of the bigger, filthier jobs done first. But, with the need for self isolation and no opportunity to hire tradies for anything other than essential work, we had to bite the bullet and move in.

Some of the jobs we were supposed to do before we lived here included:

• Replacing the boiler, fixing the radiators and installing radiators to the utility, annexe and downstairs bathroom.
• Stripping out the 137m2 asbestos based artex and replastering the walls and ceilings.
• Repairing the shrunken roof timbers.
• Repairing the sagging ceiling in the master bedroom.
• Sorting out the damp issues along the living room and kitchen outer wall.

There’s still plenty we can get on with, although we are finding we have to leave some jobs we thought we could get done during lockdown. For example, it became all too clear that the wallpaper in the office is what’s holding the plaster in place. So, we’ll leave it where it is until we know we can get a plasterer in. But, every beam in the house was painted black gloss. Stripping all that away to let the oak breathe will keep me entertained for some time… Don’t need a tradie to do that, just a lot of patience!

The heating issues turned out to be our biggest immediate challenge. The central heating system is so knackered that only two radiators work. We know that flushing it will get the radiators back online, but we suspect that the ageing pipes and prehistoric boiler won’t cope with that sort of pressure and we’ll end up causing more problems. Either leakage or a completely buggered boiler meaning we lose hot water too, is not an ideal outcome. Thankfully the weather’s improved, and we assume/hope lockdown won’t carry on until next winter because working from home in a bitterly cold house isn’t much fun. I’ve lost count of the times I draped myself over the Aga between meetings…

We’ve taken the opportunity to clear the overgrown garden. With no tips open, we’ve had to pause that now, until we can dispose of the green waste mountain. But we’ve started on the veggie patch and worked out that the rotten shed we were going to demolish will actually be brilliant, repurposed and refurbished into a chook run.

We’ve painted the lounge. We needed a space in good enough condition to retreat to. The lounge is one of the worst asbestos offenders with all walls and the ceiling containing the stuff. Before we moved in, we decided we’d get the whole lot stripped out, but knew a lick of paint would be enough to freshen it up and tide us over.

Painting it made us realise we actually love the plaster texture of the walls. The ceiling still has to be dealt with, but we now know we’ll do whatever it takes to keep those walls. Asbestos in the artex plaster or not, they really suit the room, and according to the Asbestos Management Register we had carried out before we bought the house, they are safe enough to keep. So there’s the first silver lining of moving in before work began!

The damp challenge is an interesting one. Since moving in we’ve begun stripping the woodchip out of the annexe and discovered damp along the back wall there, too. I’m not a fan of chemical damp treatments. Something about drilling holes in the walls and filling them full of silicone doesn’t sit right with me. Damp issues are generally caused by lack of air circulation thanks to stuff piled up against the outer wall, or slabs or tarmac laid up to it. Or, it’s faulty guttering or pipes causing water to pool.

Both of the walls affected by damp have huge conifer trees butting into them, or very large shrubs in very raised garden beds. Both walls, unfortunately, are boundary walls with neighbouring properties. So, once lockdown is over, another interesting challenge is for us to go and talk to those neighbours about clearing some of what’s in their gardens which is affecting the inside of our home.

Lockdown is providing us with a super opportunity to understand the house better before we take any drastic action. Whilst frustrating to begin with, we’re realising how beneficial that actually is.

We didn’t take this house on with the intention of renovating it quickly. To begin with, we don’t have instantly available finances to do that and we don’t believe in taking out massive loans or doing things on credit. For us, this is the last house we’ll buy. It’s our forever home. It’s our lifelong project. For me, it marked the twentieth time I’ve moved house in my life, and that includes a move from the UK to Western Australia, from WA to Victoria, then from VIC back to the UK. Enough’s enough. I’m never moving again.

We (hopefully!) have years to restore this house, a few weeks or months on pause isn’t too great an issue.

The past two days started out so well. We spent most of yesterday in the cottage, exploring, scrubbing, painting one of the not-so-bad rooms, and trying to work out what all the keys are for.

Off we went again this morning and carried on. We took a call mid afternoon from Andy’s lovely mum, taking the weekend from a real high to a dreadful low.

We’ve lived with Andy’s mum since moving out of our old place late last year, as we waited for the cottage. Our two cats, two turtles and two dogs of course came with us.

Bit of background… I lived for donkeys years in Australia and moved back to the UK a couple of years ago. It’s been a bit of a rough time for me, not as easy as I’d expected it would be to settle back in. Andy’s been my rock. And so too, were my two cats and two dogs, all of whom came back with me from Australia.

All four were rescues. Cooper the small yellow dog from West Australia; my darling little Chinese Crested dog Daisy from Melbourne; Kitty the Persian cat from Melbourne; and Fifi the ragdoll from Sale in Gippsland.

The house we were living in, wasn’t much fun for them. A three storey modern townhouse with paper thin walls, tiny garden, and not much room. I loathed it, Andy put up with it, and they all made do.

The cats and dogs are our family. We both wanted to create a home they could enjoy as much as we could. It took a long time to find the right place. Then several months to agree a deal. One month after we’d agreed a price, we lost my dear Daisy.

I was heartbroken. She was my shadow for a decade. Daisy was three years old when she came to me. She’d had a tough start to life, growing up with a dreadful backyard breeder, caged alone, used as stock. Coming to me changed her life, and she changed mine. I adored that tiny girl. Losing her was impossibly hard to get over.

Coop Dog was my first dog. Found as a stray in the Perth suburbs at a couple of months old, I adopted him at 16 weeks, when he weighed about the same as a big bag of sugar. He’s a fabulous little man. A gentle and loving personality, little dog bark, and oh so funny. Diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis at seven, a heart murmur a couple of years later, and the onset of liver disease last year; that he’s happy and loving life at 14 years old is nothing short of a miracle.

Desperately sad that Daisy would never get to see the cottage, it’s been even more important we move in as quickly as we can so that Cooper gets to live out the rest of his life in our forever home. Today’s phone call was Andy’s mum, letting us know that he really didn’t seem well. I came home immediately. Within half an hour, Andy and I were at the vets with the wee man, whose breath was fast and shallow.

The poor boy’s on a drip, with intravenous pain relief and antibiotics. We don’t yet know if he’ll make it. All we do know, is that he didn’t seem ready to go yet, and so we shall do everything we can to help him try to stay.

What began as a wonderful weekend, turned quickly to a tremendously tough one. All we can do now is wait, and hope he makes it. We know how much he will love the cottage.