In the beginning .. to groundworks starting

In the beginning there was a field. Then, we bought the field - and that's really when the adventures began. We bought it last summer and now we've just started getting ready to build our house (our home) there.

I thought it would be fun to blog our adventures in our new land (our wonderland), so prepare for tales of self building and attempts to grow veg and whatever else happens as we get settled on our slightly damp 3 acres.


This week, things actually started to happen. The diggers came in, the boundaries went back and the field has become a 'site'. That feels huge to us. Having plans on paper is one thing, having the vision is another, but actually breaking ground - that makes it real in a new (and exciting) way.


Now we have a driveway emerging and a level area for the house (and eventually the garage).


Luckily, the snow and rain didn't stop progress much and all is going well,
despite it getting a tad chilly in the site office (aka caravan).


Actually, the site looked lovely in the snow, especially the trees in the distance and the stream, which is always beautiful to me.
Even with the diggers busy up top, near the road, I can escape down to the stream for a few minutes of pure peace and tranquility. The stream is the boundary between our land and the woodland behind, so there is always plenty of wildlife activity.
We're back down again tomorrow for a few days while the digging is completed - not that we're actually doing the digging. We're happy to do most of the work inside the house, but even we know our limitations, so for now we sit back and 'supervise' i.e. keep out of the way!

Mind you there's always a bit of entertainment with
Sam around, and we'd better make the most of playing now, while we have some time to spare.

Our house is a Scandinavian timber 'near passive' house from Sacnhome in Galway (www.scanhome.ie) and will
arrive on a rather large lorry in the beginning of March. The shell is up within a week - and then we get to work!

Until then we're busy enough sourcing materials, sorting out logistics and hopefully planning what veg we'll try to grow this year. Ideally I'd like to get a polytunnel up this Spring - to give me somewhere to start things off and also to give a bit of shelter from the rain. With that and some raised beds we should be in with a chance of success on the damp clay soil.

Watch this space.