Sir Winston Churchill had one replete with fish and water lilies at Chartwell and he even commissioned a bespoke chair so that he could sit and watch his precious carp, the lilies of Giverny inspired one of the world’s most famous series of paintings in Monet’s Nympheas and our pond, well, it was in need of some serious attention.

We inherited a bit of a mess from the previous owners and some very overgrown lilies.  I immersed myself in a crash course in lily maintenance courtesy of YouTube and Duncan, John and I got stuck in.  First, remove all the lily baskets from the pond, next, pump the water from the pond and finally, clear years of stinking leaves and sludge from the bottom.  It was all too much for the dirty water pump after a while and so we removed a lot of the mud with buckets – I lost count how many.  Such a long and fulfilling day though and we felt triumphant to have cleared it all.  We even found a fish!

We are ignoring the fact that the liner is in need of replacing for now and we refilled the pond.  We purchased proper aquatic plant baskets, compost and soil, separated and repotted the lilies.  Imagine my delight when a few weeks on all the care and attention is paying off and the lily leaves are rising to the surface again. So happy!  The ducks seem pretty content too…..

Can’t wait for the flowers now, that really will feel like an achievement.

I’m feeling energised after a couple of hours spent shifting logs and this update is long overdue….

The title of today’s post has won the prize for ‘comment of the week’ regarding the house and comes courtesy of a contact in the world of finance.  He’s a sensible guy and since the scope of works has been compiled and we’re now in a period of tense anticipation, trying to ignore that gnawing feeling in the gut before we are presented with an estimate of how much the refurbishment will cost, he may have a point.

In the meantime I am ignoring such unromantic cynicism and throwing myself into planning the finer details of bathrooms and kitchens.  SO MUCH FUN!! Partly due to the conditions of the Listing and in part due to our own intent to preserve as much of the original detail of the house as makes sense in a 21st Century setting, we will change very little.

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Our house has no insulation!

Or at least that is how it feels now that the weather has regained it’s seasonal habit and the temperature has plummeted. The horses in the field bordering the drive have their coats on and are rather sadly huddling together for warmth as they graze.  We aren’t behaving that differently inside the house to be honest.

Afflicted with various coughs and colds, we have made emergency purchases of thermals, heaters, dehumidifiers and slippers and are steeling ourselves to tough it out. As a result and with spirits taking a dip it seems a good time to remind ourselves why we purchased the house in the first place.

Period Features
Design
Space

 

The staircase and the beautiful, curved window that frames it is so grandly elegant but at the same time very simple; just one long line.  I love it and the view across the field from the sweeping window is cheering me now as I write.

Although they are clearly going to be the bane of our lives, the windows throughout are pretty amazing.  All original (apart from the two cloudy plastic replacements on the curved window in the picture above) Crittall windows in their steel frames making the house so wonderfully light and such a great example of the experimental architecture of its time. The dining window (pictured above) also makes a key contribution to happiness (or hopefully will do once it is properly refurbished) as it totally concertinas open to allow an uninterrupted view and access straight into the garden.

The house if full of quirks and remnants of the past, not least of which is the old servants bell box.  Sadly it no longer works but I love this nod to a bygone time.  Along with the inbuilt drinks cabinet, wine labels decorating the dining room walls and the long stretch of bookshelves lining the hall I like these original features as at moments like these I can conjure up an image of how the house lived and breathed back in the ’30s and 40’s.  I can dream of cocktail parties, of croquet on the lawn, of visitors and the hustle and bustle of a butler, cook and nanny going about their business behind the scenes.  Too much Downton I expect.

Most of all, though, I can look to the future and picture Felix’s treehouse in the copse to the left of the house and now the cold seems a small price to pay after all.

 

 

We’re three months in and have at least as many leaks. The roof is bad, this much we knew but we haven’t been able to touch it yet and so we are muddling through with a patched job and daily wondering why it is that a pipe is leaking directly from the roof into our airing cupboard!

The big move from London to the countryside has taken some adjustment and so we have spent much of our time here so far getting to grips with our new world and throwing ourselves into the jobs that could be tackled without the approval of the planning office.  So, the chimneys have been swept, the Aga lit and otherwise the house is pretty much as we found it.

The garden has been the focus of most of our energy and some progress has been made.  The formal garden was designed by the architect to reflect the shape and plan of the house and as a result the shape of the garden wall is just beautiful.  When we arrived it was totally covered in brambles and weeds but after an initial stab at it ourselves, our wonderful gardeners John and Duncan have cleared the whole length of it.  We can’t wait to get planting to recreate a glorious floral border but its going to take a while.

We are also on a horticultural crash course and one of the lessons is that all these brambles will return soon and so we’ll repeat the process in the spring.

In the foreground you can see the Waterlily Pond, also part of the original plan for the house and one for the project list. The duck weed has taken over and the water level is very low indicating a leak.  One for another day.