Sheds and time.

Time has a funny habit of slipping away from you... and me ... without anything apparently changing quickly. We've been here nearly six weeks already and I find myself saying "What have I been doing.... nothing !" . I suppose that I have  "been doing something" but theres so much going on that its easy to forget that the farm has not always looked exactly as it does today.

The first big job when we got here was the "collapsed shed" next to the house. It had been built by the former farmer to house his sheep, I dont know how long it took him to build singlehandedly but it must have been quite a while. I seemed fitting that it should be singlehandedly dismantled by the new owner (with help from both the ravages of time and the weather !)

I initially said... "its about 20 meters long by 7 wide " - after checking on Google Earth as I write this - its actually 45meters by about 10 meters!  That would explain where the month has disappeared then ! - not fully appreciating the time it would take ! Sometimes it helps just to dive in and get  through the worst of it in a wave of naive enthusiasm. Disastrous policy if you're quoting for a job though! 450 square meters of metal roofed shed -oops I thought it was 140.

However armed with my trusty awesome Hilti  screwdriver I set to work on this mess, most of it was quite straightforward but towards the end the shed roof was very overgrown so the screws could not be seen or reached . The clump of ivy in photo is about 8 meters long, as high as me and came off the roof in one piece ! I had to demolish quite a lot of the holly hedge behing just to get at it as well (Ouch!). I'll be very happy to torch that "holly and ivy" at Christmas when its dried out !

I was most pleased  with my new battery drill - it can effortlessly take out 300, 4 inch screws on one battery charge - a classic example of the right tool for the job saves time. In fact it was almost a pleasure - even after I'd taken out almost 2000 screws . Heres one days worth !

 

The other thing that has crashed to the ground is one side of the shed. The two hundred year old wall that also supports the field behind had been undermined below its foundations  by the previous farmer to gain an extra 40 cm of height inside the shed (Rather than build the wall 40 cm higher in wood ).

Predictable result... its destabilised maybe 20m of wall , half of which has already collapsed, the rest will need to be demolished eventually. It was quite depressing to see his shortcut to save time many years ago has destroyed a large amount of work of the original historic build  and will require to be redone at far greater cost of my time.

The upside of all this demolition is that I've reclaimed literally tons of timber, lots of it reusable and a substantial quantity  for a few massive fires . Theres also been a load of metal roofing , destined for the scrapyard (£150 a tonne !)

The last fire was particulary satisfying - I burnt all the receipts and paperwork that relates to the last house and extension builds, as well as the remains of shed. Not only did it clear the site and my "office desk" it felt symbolic of calling time on the last project and consigning it to the ashes of history.

The receipts varied from 7 to 2 years ago and every one of them had involved me purchasing something to build the house (often on my own).  Ten percent of my "three score years and ten" used up building something that one day someone will be recycling, knocking down or burning.

The irony of it wasnt lost on me. I could have asked the previous resident of the shed for advice but time has a funny habit of slipping away and they were silent on the matter.

Appearances can be deceptive

I was thinking about the appearance of things today. The main task  for the day was to start getting the tractor serviceable. I've been avoiding the issue for about seven weeks  from the first day of being given (very generously) the tractor along with the farm.

Its a Massey Fergusson 35 (MF35) - almost 50 years old. It originally looked red, shiny, and was probably the first owners pride and joy the week he bought it from the dealer. It would have looked like this...

I have used the tractor once or twice already but with that deep sense that I really shouldnt be , fun as it was.
Rather like playing on a sunny summer evening as a child ,but not enjoying it because you haven't done your homework and know that you're going to pay heavily tomorrow.

Basically I couldnt bear to face up to the reality that my tractor looks awful. These photos of the engine block and rear end give an idea...

As a former engineer it was painful to look at, everything coated in a layer of thick stinking grease. It was also dangerous, the last time I drove it, I sheared off two wheel bolts and the front nearly collapsed. The brakes dont really work and bits appeared to be missing... important bits like the pins that stop the big bolts falling out of the front loader and decapitating the driver. A sorry state of affairs for a tractor to get into.

And thats why I started thinking about the appearance of things because I realised that of course the tractor was no different to the house and the entire farm itself - (understandable since all were previously owned by the same person.) However it was also somewhat like myself after a long days work. Tired , worn out, in need of some attention.

 Of course it doesnt really matter what the tractor looks like at the moment but rather does the tractor still possess the abilities which are required of it now and in the future.  Reflecting on this I realised that I'd probably be a lot more enthused about fixing the tractor if only I cleaned it, that way my previous engineering interests could then kick in and restoring the tractor could be another thing to look forward to doing rather than avoiding.  

I changed my perspective on the issue and before you could say "Where did that come from !"  I'd wired up a 3 phase extension lead, rushed into town and borrowed a steam cleaner and got to work.

After an hour I realised that the tractor was in quite good condition after all. It needs a few tweaks to the fuel lines and theres a tiny bit of oil leakage. Half the muck was stuck to the tractor because the previous owner had run out of energy or enthusiasm for it - a few loose bolts and crossthreaded unions and after a few years the whole thing was buried in diesel flavoured mud. The tractor certainly doesnt look new even now but I bet that someone will still be driving it in 50 years if I look after it and appreciate it for what it really is not what it looks like on the surface.

I'll start ordering the parts tomorrow, until then I think I need steam cleaning myself...

The way things are

To compare with previous post, some idea of the challenge ahead can be see from this recent aerial photo

The modern tin sheds at the bottom of photo are about 30m long and had partially collapsed as well ! Ruin upon ruin ! They were my first challenge since they were close and full of easily reclaimable metal roof and timbers

The huge shed is mainly empty now but was full of rows of  poultry battery cages when I first saw it. They'd gone almost immediately when the site was partly cleared for the sale- off to the scrap man to be turned into something less unhygenic ! Theres still quite a lot to remove though...

The large ruin on right was originally the " excellent room on a level with the top of the greenhouse stage, where are deposited some beautiful specimens of natural history, and a few useful books."
The roof fell in about 20 years ago apparently and even the walls are starting to crumble badly. Not so excellent now.

The trampoline came with the house - thanks for that - the kids love it !

The way things were

Theres a lot to tell about this place ,so as  I dig it up (physically or metaphorically) I' ll just add it to the blog. Heres the first info I found when researching the previous history a few months ago. Its from a (fortunately digitised) copy of "The Gardener's magazine and register of rural & domestic improvement, Volume 1, 1826"

What would we do without Google ! 

Original version is viewable in full here Pages 252 to 258

Our house is (d) . Its quite amazing to think of all the work and effort that this site must have absorbed over the last 204 years.

All that remains of the "garden" is the ruins, weeds and a few holly hedges that might be left over from "(r) Line of variegated Hollies" on the map." (u) Four divisions of flued wall" still has a few of the pear trees. that would have enjoyed the warmth of the (now partially collapsed) heated wall

A bit of background to how this came about

Its not every day you buy an 18 acre (plus 429/1000ths!) derelict former  farm sited in a walled historic designed landscape in a beautiful valley location within 30 mins of the city centre. From the outside perspective it probably looks a bit bonkers I'm sure. From the inside it looks even crazier since I have a clearer idea of how much work needs doing! I dont fully understand what has driven me/ us to this  but I hope writing it down might help figure this out (I keep a diary as well partly for the same reason)

I suspect its a dream that many people have to do something similar ( there were three other people bidding up the cost of this "dream" alone.) In a way it doesnt really matter what the dream is at all, just that it appears ridiculously beyond what might be possible given current circumstance.

After the first visit, where we walked around in shock with our mouths open like tourists in town,
I returned on my own the next day. While stood in the field and looking around at the ruins, sheds , acres of weeds,etc. I had a really bizarre feeling, which I've only really experienced while climbing occasionally in the past. A sort of overwhelming adreneline high caused by the knowledge that you are imminently about to "go for it" and damn the consequences, that its the right thing to do and you cant stop yourself.. In the full knowledge that you're about to bite off too much and maybe choke,  you still stuff some more in. A better example might be the feeling you experience a few moments before doing a massive bungee jump. Well I had that big-style and nearly completely bottled it,almost running screaming from the site yelling "No way too big, too much work, too long, too expensive, (insert favourite excuse here)"


Luckily I didnt, though I was somewhat negative on return to home. It was really thanks to Aprils' belief (in me ) that it could happen and that we could do it that we got to the offers stage and then secured the place the following week. I'm quite sure that I would have talked myself out of the story otherwise.

Of course (for those who already know us) the idea of doing up a place isn't new to either April or myself, its just this place is BIG! Our previous house had a 70 square meter outside amenity space , this has 70 THOUSAND sqm of outside space. As a city dweller for so many years it was an intoxicating feeling just knowing that, let alone walking around, drooling at the thought, "this could be mine, mine, all mine, mine I tell you !". We HAD to buy it !

Our previous place has its own story to tell ,Couperfield House in Leith , 

 

the restoration of which was filmed for Channel 4's "Grand Designs" during 2003/4. Its online here if you've not seen it.

The important thing was that it took 18 months of slog for us to build it, mainly by ourselves. After that we decided to have kids and I needed to build an extension so I took another 18 months to build the most overly complicated design I could in a miniscule 35 sqm.  

Nice though. The copper cladding alone took 6 months nearly of  my spare days (and now I cant find a photo of it!). It all reached a natural conclusion after Lundy was born. A 2 bed house, completely finished wasnt going to keep me entertained anymore. We sold up about 18 months later. I'd worked on every square inch of that property. You learn something from that kind of labour input into one building. From the very foundations to the last lick of paint, every step seems just miniscule as part of the whole house, yet amazingly and soul-sappingly-slowly at times, it does eventually get finished. This time I didnt have Aprils assistance either since she was incapicitated by children. (This is worth remembering, any wannabe self builders out there! - you need a "right hand (wo)man" )

Prior to that house we had a modest 2 bed traditional flat which came complete with carpet beetles, leaking roof, condemned boiler, etc.  I once punctured a water pipe and had to pay through the nose for a plumber. I needed a structural engineer to reassure me removing one of the cupboards was safe. At the time these challenges were the biggest I could deal with (or not!) and  my DIY skills were hardly much different from the average person I suspect . Like building the house one step at a time, the skills and confidence needed built up and this has taken years as well. 

Did I know I'd need all these skills in the future? Nope, I just LIKE learning them or (more frequently) NEED to learn them to get me out of some mouth-jammed-with-food-unable-to-breathe situation I'd ended up in.

Which reminds me of an even earlier story. I'm one of three partners at alien rock  (above) and when we started our business in 1994  it was in in need of major work (of course!). We had had the climbing wall frames designed, we'd ordered the one kilometer of steel section, hired the welding plant. We just had to start - and none of us knew how to weld properly !. The first welds I did fell off the metal when tapped. You panic, you fret , you just have to try some other way (swop the leads over !) and you learn something useful that takes you to the bigger dream.. Thats also where I met April for the first time- she rather liked me in my leather welding jacket apparently... ;-)

So, very briefly ,thats how I find myself , complete with family, in "another fine mess" as Oliver Hardy used to say. And he knew a thing or two about stuffing his mouth full I bet.

Lets get started !

I'm sure all bloggers probably start their first Blog with the same post so heres goes...

"Woohoo I'm a blogger ! " OK enough of that.

The purpose of this foray into blogging is to help share the story of the ongoing transformation of our "new" 200 year old, partly-derelict historic walled gardened house which was formerly part of the Dalhousie Castle policies just south of Edinburgh. I'll tell the story of why we bought it later.

I'd like to share the "trials and tribulations" that will no doubt befall us as well as hopefully inspire you what can be done by an ordinary family who find a dream to follow. I'd like the blog to act as an "open diary" relating to everything we try at "the farm" and I already suspect that I'll need to do a bit of soul-searching in how to do that in an honest fashion without leaving the excrutiating bits out too often

In time I'd like to use the blog for a few philosophical thoughts of my own which occasionally pop into my head ,especially when working alone and tired. Maybe they'll be mini-rants, maybe I wont be brave enough...maybe I'll learn something about myself and my friends (and future friends) will get to know me better.
  
"And pigs might fly" they say.

Well a farm would be as good a place to test that theory as anywhere. Lets get started and see !

Reuben Welch (with future input from April, Willow and Lundy !)