Apologies for not posting a blog last week. The honest reason is that I hadn’t achieved a huge amount so there wasn’t much to say! Last week has been a little more productive.
My last blog finished by saying that we were having our new stove fitted the following day and the weather was about to turn unsettled and autumnal. Again, both turned out to be true.
The stove company arrived early on Monday and the first question they asked as they walked in was where we wanted the large hole that needed to be drilled in an external wall as part of the installation. This was news to us and, as our house is fairly draughty anyway we thought fairly unnecessary. However, they explained it is an obligatory requirement and if we didn’t have a hole, we wouldn’t have the stove.
We decided to have the hole drilled through to our rear terrace as it would be less visually obvious and, if future plans ever come to fruition, is on a wall that will be covered anyway.
Thankfully, having drilled their hole, they were happy to fit the stove, and we’re really pleased with how it looks. We’re less pleased with the whistling sound it makes when the wind blows across the top of the chimney, which it did a lot at the end of last week, especially strongly as Storm Austen and, to a lesser extent, Boelo passed.
We didn’t think to record the whistling at the time so, while we have asked the company to come and resolve, they won’t do so until the wind comes back and we can provide them with a recording.
Thankfully, Storm Austen wasn’t quite a Ciáran for us with winds only peaking here at 110 kmph (140 kmph in Ciáran) and the power cut we suffered only lasted 8 hours rather than the 12 days before. This meant minimal inconvenience for most of our guests although it did cause the cancellation of the Plymouth Roscoff ferry that was bringing a family to Granary for half term and so lost a day of their holiday with us.
Since Boleo passed the weather has become beautifully autumnal and, as were meeting friends nearby, we had our Sunday stoll last week along the Huelgoat canal. We hadn’t been in the Huelgoat forest for many months so we were surprised to see that, we assume as a result of the drought crisis Finistère remains in, the canal is completely dry. While Boleo brought some rain with it, no where near enough to replenish the reservoirs.
Last week hasn’t helped the drought situation as it has been dry, extremely mild for late October, and fabulous weather for working outside.
This has allowed me to cut out some of the dead privet that we have in Granary’s garden as the honey fungus in the soil continues along the hedge line. Sadly the drought meant we also lost a couple of the griselinia plants that we had planted in advance knowing the privet will all eventually die.
With the dead bits cut out, the plan is to trim the hedge next week and fill the gaps with additional griselinia before the spring.
The dry weather also allowed me to continue the pool house cladding and I have finished one gable end and started the frame on the other.
I have also finished all the wood I’d initially bought which I knew would not be enough. I didn’t want to buy more than I needed and have lots left over, now I am able to calculate accurately what I need to complete the task and will buy what I need tomorrow to, hopefully, finish the whole building by this time next week.
With this amazing weather we’ve enjoyed, the autumnal colours are really starting to look fabulous (where the leaves hadn’t been blown off in Austen!) and the woods near us are beautiful. I shared images of our liquidambar trees a couple of weeks ago but our wisteria and cherries are a couple of days away from their autumn peak which I’ll share next week.
We chose to walk back along the Nantes Brest canal today as much of it is lined with deciduous trees and we hoped to see them in full colour. The clear blue sky and calm water meant it was always going to be pretty but the trees seem to be a little later than our woods as we think we were perhaps a few days before they are at their peak. The sky has provided some spectacular colours in other ways.
The weather looks to remain beautiful for the coming week so I should be able to make further progress on outdoor tasks and it will be ideal as we’re having another company replace Granary’s windows starting tomorrow as another major investment we’re making to Kergudon to be the perfect place for your next holiday.
Salut.