Posts by Benjamin Dickins

At the end of my last blog, I said that the forecast was looking decidedly autumnal which should have allowed me to make a start with the framing and plaster boarding of the pool house. However, it also said that we had a family arrive in Priory for the school half term and I didn’t…

Last week’s blog said that we were due to have another amazing week of weather as it was forecast to be dry and unusually warm for mid-October.  And so it turned out to be. The last sentence of the blog said that I was looking at a completely clear blue sky – it could hardly…

One statement I had made in my last couple of blogs was that autumn days can be amazing here and last week and, if the forecast is to be believed, next week have had, and will have, some real Indian Summer days. Despite, or perhaps because, this year has been so dry in the summer,…

At the end of my last blog, written 3 weeks ago(!), I said that with all of our friends and family having departed, I would be able to pick up with the projects that had been neglected over the busy summer months and get back into the habit of writing my blog. That didn’t work…

At the start of my last blog I apologised for breaking a promise that I hadn’t written in a couple of weeks. At the end, I didn’t make a similar promise as I said that we had some great friends arriving and I suspected that we might not have the most productive week. As things…

At the end of my last blog, I made a promise that I would write a week later and tell you about all the things I had done, as you will have seen, I didn’t – again! The reason was that, while active, I didn’t manage to do any of the jobs that I had…

Another 2 weeks since my last blog, I don’t intend for them to become fortnightly but we have now definitely entered into our busy summer season.  Very encouragingly, this week is another where we have a truly international clientele with Dutch and British families in the family gîtes, a French couple in our B&B and…

Not having written a blog last Sunday, or last night, I have decided that I would, exceptionally, write a Monday blog because some news can’t wait … My last blog showed that the telescopic cover we had bought for the pool had been installed which meant the pool area itself could be kept dry in…

Apologies for not posting a blog last week as we were out celebrating a good friend’s birthday.  In fact, the last couple of weeks have been fairly social and active. We can break the last 2 weeks into 3 elements; work we have done, work that has been done by other people, and fun stuff.…

At the end of last week’s blog, I said that our focus would be able to shift to other tasks having seeded the lawn the previous week.  The 3 tasks I listed were hedge cutting, weeding and more lounger sanding.  When I wasn’t diverted to more immediate maintenance and repair issues, I managed to start…