Three days gone by…

Friday – seems such a long time ago now, let me think… ah yes. Ady and I worked together for most of the day clearing a huge heap of wood which the builders had chucked into a pile when building a house a year or so ago. We made a platforn and some stakes to keep the decent stuff tidy and off the ground and restacked it, then put all the smaller stuff into big sacks for kindling wood for the pizza oven or to sell to the guests with wood burners in their cottages.

It’s lovely working alongside Ady, I’m really enjoying all this time together 🙂 We listen to the radio, talk about all sorts of things and laugh so much. We have worked together in the past several times and it’s always been good, we make a good partnership and are reminded of each others strengths and positives :).

I was booked in for a massage in the afternoon after work so Ady sorted out dinner while I went off for that and then he and the kids went swimming. It was lovely, really relaxing and theraputic :). I was most blissed out after that and slept really well that night.

Saturday – Ady and I finished off the last of the wood moving and then he did some gardening and I started painting a shepherds hut which is used as an annex to one of the cottages and had been really badly repainted inside with one very streaky coat of a really unpleasant colour combination. I got some nice neutral shades from the garage which has a vast array of paints stashed inside. I started with a bucket of sugar soapy water and gave the whole hut a really good clean, then turned the radio up and got busy splashing paint around :). I really like painting and always think of my Dad who is a decorator so the smell of paint reminds me of spending school holidays alongside Dad while he worked, I find myself pulling the same faces as I watched him pull and I hear his voice telling me to wash the brushes out properly, no properly Nicola at the end :).

Davies and Scarlett were called in to bath and groom Maggie in preparation for Jill’s son, Thomas (12) arriving with her in-laws later in the afternoon so they really enjoyed that, another new experience for them. After lunch Thomas arrived and the kids went off to play with him, enjoying the trampoline and the swimming pool, he seems like a really nice lad, if rather city-fied – I overheard Jill explaining the difference between bees and wasps, showing him what a nettle was when he got stung picking some rhubarb and the kids said he declined their offer of walking across to Paddington later in the day as he is a bit scared of animals. They both like him though, he seems very kind and friendly and happy to share and play.

Ady went off into town in the late afternoon, I had a swim and then did some tea for the kids and got our dinner on. Ady returned, we had a lovely curry for dinner – totally making the most of having a kitchen 🙂

Sunday – Mothers Day 🙂 We were working – we have tomorrow off and then finish here on Thursday, leaving the cottage on Friday. Ady and the kids brought me cups of tea and offered breakfast in bed but I got up. We had bacon rolls and then I carried on painting the hut and Ady did some work on an archway he’d chopped ivy from earlier in the week. We finished quite early today and had a swim, dog sat Maggie for a while when the others all went out and the kids played with Thomas, then we had a lovely roast dinner.

We rang home and all talked to everyone there; Mum, Dad, Frazer and my Granny was there for the afternoon too. Mum & Dad are coming to stay near where we’re WWOOFing at Easter so we’ll see them in 3 weeks which we’re looking forward to.

Today Jill asked Ady if we’d be interested in coming back here to run the place if her and her husband (who we’ll meet this week, I think he arrives on Tuesday) go on holiday. Ady said we’d certainly consider it, funny what potential opportunities this place we were never supposed to be at in the first place is chucking at us!