Well, we've finally got going - Sandford is ours! It took exactly one year for the sale to go through and in the meantime we've been looking after the place and trying to stop the deterioration that has been happening in the 3 years it's been lying empty.

So far we've uncovered the sunken garden to find a pond, some paths and a weeping willow tree. We've ripped out all the old carpets and had some spectacular bonfires, we've taken damp plaster off a couple of walls, we've had a chimney re-harled and last weekend Ralph got to work with his new sandblasting machine on removing the glossy black paint from the old oak beams - and what a difference that's made! We've also removed some of the external cladding that's on the outside of the loggia as we want to open this up.