This week we finally got to work inside. The first job was cleaning the beams and A-frames with wire brushes and treating them with insecticide. The stuff has probably rearranged our DNA but at least the woodworm won't be coming back. The beams scrubbed up a treat. We used small hand grinders with wire brush attachments and a drill with the same kind of attachment. The first pic is the cleaned wood and Quatermass is in the second.

We began fitting the roof windows this week. A chum came along to show us how to do it. It looked very easy. It wasn't. The main challenge is fitting the flashing around the window and under and over the small ceramic roof tiles. We fitted the second one without help and learnt a lot from that. The first two windows are in the end room, which has a higher floor and lower side roof beams (Perlings/Bastaignes). That means they had to be installed above the roof beam. The other veluxes will be installed below the beam and above the eaves.

This is the first one going in as demonstrated by a pro.

On the same day, the local council and the water authority installed the mains drainage and the water supply.

We bought about 14 fruit trees and were given 2 more- Peaches, Apricots, Almonds, Cherries, Apples, Plums and Pears. We've been digging the holes for them ready for planting. The rest are sitting in a little shelter protecting them from the frost