Author Archives: michaelgush

Well, what an odd period to be trying to renovate a property!  Builder’s yards all shut, trades unable to be on site, our gardener locked-down in a different country and to top it off two small children to home school … Continue reading →

In a very wet and windy start to 2020 (more on that later) the focus was on the Annex, with the lime plastering well underway and a new door frame installed to the main room: The wet weather and storms … Continue reading →

We’ll start outside before moving on to the excitement inside.  First up is the progress on the tractor bay  – half done, half to go: The garden walls continued to be a source of many hours of hard work: We … Continue reading →

Another busy quarter (are there any others?) with the garden taking over once again: The replacement stores in the Small Walled Garden also made progress, although much still to do! One of the big jobs was to get the drainage … Continue reading →

As the longer days kicked in and the weather improved we were a hive of activity, starting with the removal of the bees from our roof space.  The bees will be taken away long enough for their memory of our … Continue reading →

One of the main jobs at the start of the year was to get the limecrete slab in the annex floor finished.  Cue more digging out, levelling, blinding, and dumping the spoil followed by installation of the excellent sublime system (with … Continue reading →

After a lot of thought (and influenced in no small part by how successful the floors have been in the main house) we took the difficult decision to remove the annex floors ready for replacement with limecrete and underfloor heating.  … Continue reading →

July started with a negotiated visit from BT to reroute our telephone cable.  Previously strung across the garden this had formed a bad habit of wrapping itself around the chimney for one of the biomass boilers, with the result being a loss … Continue reading →

With better weather came a busier 3 months, boosted by the arrival of our very own digger and also Logan returning to push things along.  More gravel was needed – now up to 100 tonnes thus far – and Tony … Continue reading →

One of the main themes in Q1 has been the weather – snow, snow and more snow!  As a result work has slowed a tad! But in between the snowfall we have been getting some things done.  First up, the … Continue reading →

Despite moving in a couple of months ago, there has been plenty to do!  Photos have dried up somewhat as Mike has handed over much of the finishing to Eddie and Scott, our decorators, who have had the enviable job of seeing … Continue reading →

Now we have moved in this will be the last monthly update for a while…  2018 should return to being a hive of activity, however the main house is now very much liveable and we won’t be tackling the same scale of … Continue reading →

August marked our official move-in date.  Quite a lot of work still to do, but enough to be able to make a house a home… at last! The kitchen was receiving some of the (almost) finishing touches with the pantry … Continue reading →

A long overdue update from July.  With over 200 photos to process and a very hectic second half of 2017, including finally moving in(!), this update has been on the back burner for some time – Apologies! We’ll start with the kitchen … Continue reading →

Progress continues to be swift thanks to input from a lot of people!  The floors were one of the big jobs this month with more of the upstairs now fully sanded and sealed and the downstairs stone floors getting a … Continue reading →

Racing along now…  suddenly it looks like a house again!  Over 200 photos this month given how much is going on.  In no particular order, lets start in the bedrooms where we have gone bold in the master bedroom and … Continue reading →

April marks the 5 year anniversary of buying Hallyards and the 2 year anniversary of the proper internal works on the ‘big house’.   Just have a look back at April 2015 to see how far we have come…  It really is … Continue reading →

Another phenomenally busy month, with everything coming together pretty nicely.  Here’s a quick run around the main house, starting with the large upstairs round room which now actually looks like a room again! After the complexity of this room, the rest … Continue reading →

As promised last month, there has been a lot of progress to report with over 200 photos to sort through.  It is difficult to know where to start…  We’ve had joiners (Steven, Ian, Mike & Aiden), plasterers (Adrian & Sean), … Continue reading →

Welcome to our official move in year all!  With the kids starting nursery in August the pressure is on.  As such, things will start moving at a rather quicker pace from here, assisted by a large number of joiners, electricians, … Continue reading →

Only a short update this month after a very hectic November.   First up the floors and a bit of a glitch…  After a lot of cleaning it became apparent that the cleaning fluid used in the first clean of the … Continue reading →

A very busy November to report with lots of prep ahead of Grandish Designs arriving at the end of the month to lay our lovely limestone floors – plastering, decorating, some more rot removal and a new step for the French … Continue reading →

Work on the back stairs continued apace, with excavations completed, insulating material laid, pipework run and the limecrete slab barrowed into place and levelled. We also started the decorating (!), with Eddie fitting us in to prep, paper and paint the … Continue reading →

Another big hit of plastering this month, completing everything prepared to date and leaving us with very nearly a fully plastered ground floor (as well as a few nearly finished rooms upstairs as well). The lime plastering seems an endless task, … Continue reading →

Plastering has taken centre stage this month with Adrian working wonders – we now have finished ceilings and fitted cornices (including in the round room which was some challenge)! As part of the plastering work we carefully removed the ceiling … Continue reading →

It is finally starting to look like a house again!  A couple of days from Steven and Iain from Atina Developments saw the floor in the big round room finished and the ceiling boarded in one of the large bedrooms … Continue reading →

Yet another exciting month (would I say anything else?!?) In the garden the borders are exploding with colour and the glasshouse and vegetable patch are promising to be very productive.  Progress inside is also good, with the first ceiling with reinstated … Continue reading →

Let’s start with the garden this month.  It’s a real sign that the weather is turning when the daffodils and bluebells come out and when the house martins turn up you know summer is just around the corner. The alpine … Continue reading →

Another month of busy prep ahead of the plasterers from Masonry & Lime returning at the start of May to finish as much of the lime plastering as possible.  The base coats of lime applied by Tony and Logan last … Continue reading →

A clear increase in pace this month with lots of people on site and a 50% increase in the number of photos to process!  Steven and Iain from Atina Developments were back to give us another boost, with a long … Continue reading →

A slower pace this month after the hard work that went into the prep work and the plastering itself.  That said, there was a lot of cleaning up to do (thanks Tony!) and aftercare for the plaster work, which is looking … Continue reading →

November was a very busy month with the continued preparations ahead of the visit from the plasterers from Masonry & Lime and then the plastering itself.  A huge volume of work with huge thanks to Steven & Iain from Atina … Continue reading →

The main job this month was to get ready for the 1st visit from the plasterers in mid November.  This involved ceilings going up, grounds going on, rounded corner beadings being fixed in place, walls being pointed, walls being built … Continue reading →

Let’s start with progress in the Small Walled Garden.  The potting shed is now almost complete with a fully slated roof, and during a spell of good weather the plum trees received a brutal, but necessary, pruning.  Another shed appeared … Continue reading →

Progress is picking up again with lots of developments in the main house during the month.  Before we start there though, lets find out what’s been going on in the gardens.  First up we have another glut of apples alongside … Continue reading →

Not much of a summer to speak of thus far but that hasn’t stopped the garden!  The glasshouse is earning its keep, the courgettes are flourishing, the rescued raspberries are spectacularly successful, and even the strawberries look happy… the only … Continue reading →

Well, June was almost a perfect month for all things green.  Despite an unseasonal storm towards the start of the month (the damage confined to a loss of a large beech branch and most of our fruit blossom… hmmpf), lots of rain … Continue reading →

May is the month that the garden really starts to come alive.  The borders start to grow back (as do the weeds), the glasshouse starts to heat up, the blossom appears on the trees and the lawn starts getting used to a regular … Continue reading →

Aside from the 3 year anniversary of receiving the keys, April marked a huge step forward for the project.  Instead of ripping more and more out of the property we finally started to put things back in, starting with the … Continue reading →

Activity was in full swing this month, despite a lengthy absence from the owners (ahem!)  After dismantling the potting shed last month, up shot the beautiful brickwork ahead of the windows and door frames arriving from the Victorian Glasshouse Company… … Continue reading →

With daylight returning came some exciting progress this month, particularly with Paul pitching in for his first visit of the year (and hopefully the first of many to come!)  First up, the dismantling of the potting shed: Including the revealing … Continue reading →

Well, we’re glad to get to the end of this dark month!  With daylight down to realistically 7 hours (if that) lots of the work was behind the scenes, making preparations for the spring. Tony has spent hours digging out … Continue reading →

As promised last month, a few more pictures for December!  With daylights hours at a premium the renovations carried on at a more leisurely pace, with the aim to pick this up to a gallop come the spring… First, the … Continue reading →

A dearth of photos this month… mea culpa… This, however, did not mean nothing was being done… several more coats of limewashing applied and a back corner of the main walled garden being dug thoroughly ahead of becoming the fruit … Continue reading →

Following on from a hectic few months on harling, October was a bit less active.  Tony started the tedious process of applying multiple coats of limewash to the new harling: And Mike made a start on the new floor for … Continue reading →

September was a big month, with the guys from Masonry & Lime returning to complete the harling (that will be 950sqm in total!)  But before they arrived there was a lot of prep to do – Mike had to remove … Continue reading →

The race is on to prepare Hallyards for the next influx of workers – both getting the external walls ready for the renewal of harling and removing the concrete floors inside ready for the new lime floors with underfloor heating. … Continue reading →

Another month and more render removal and harling ahead of a final visit in September from the guys from Masonry & Lime on the externals.  That will be render removed, walls pointed, flushed out and finished on a total areas of 950 sqm.  … Continue reading →