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What a mild start to the year weather wise. You good folk have had to wait a couple of weeks for a blog because I’ve been nowhere near a computer, instead making good use of the weather spending time in the garden. Having had a lovely break courtesy of good friends who hosted us for Christmas and New Year, we returned to Gigha refreshed and ready to work at the start of January. Thinking the clement skies wouldn’t last we decided on a plan of working outside for a couple of days whilst we could. As I sit here today, hoping I haven’t cursed it, that good weather is yet to break.

I quite often look back at photos from when we bought to remind ourselves how far we have come so I will reference the above to say that our walled garden, approx 45m square, was very much in need of attention. We had always planned to lend about half of that garden to the pursuit of self-sufficiency. A note of caution here because there are others doing far better at the self-sufficiency than I ever will, what I mean is eating fewer meals that are centred around meat and growing the vegetables to make dishes to replace that.

So with help from knowledgeable gardeners on the Island of Gigha we set about a list of tasks to get started on that particularly journey. Suggestions included making compost bins, defining raised beds where they were before and resurrecting a poly tunnel from the frame where one once stood. In addition recognising it was time to prune both hedges and apple trees a longer time scale was given to those two activities. That and the general clearing of the newly christened vegetable garden and orchard.

Poly tunnel frame – not a series of croquet hoops taken from ground level

Ambition started high in that we could own a poly tunnel by clearing, resetting the hoops that had dropped and ultimately providing a new skin for the structure. Clearing took the best part of two days with brush cutter and strimmer. A realisation that the remains of the cover were still embedded in a trench that needed to be re-dug around the sides and ends of the ‘tunnel also were conquered in those two days.

So as (hopefully) can be seen in the above picture we have managed to clear the ground but not managed to reset the height of the middle hoops. (Below) In fact after digging out one set of the sleeves that hold the hoops, allowing the hoop itself to be tensioned once the cover is in place, we have come to the conclusion that mechanical help is required. Not as simple as first thought, like many jobs in the renovation, the sleeves have sunk in the ground too far to be able to simply reset them so need excavated and the whole thing rebuilt. Well in my opinion anyway.

I must also thank Graham and Jacqui who dug out and postulated with Karen and I to a solution to the problem. Agreeing in the end that the two senior men should not continue to dig further.

Sleeve had about 3 foot of digging to find the bottom

Focus then turned to preparation of beds and compost bays. The material for the former had been sourced from a friend on the Island earlier that week – finding a new spot that afforded great views of the East coast and back to the mainland. But the makeshift materials for the bays were already at hand so the weekend concluded by building those:

The compost bays constructed this weekend

Before the beds though, clearing of the ground was much needed. To finish this episode of the blog a few more pictures of clear(er) ground. It probably doesn’t come across as much in the pictures as the success I think it is. A once weed laden patch, with brambles consuming the apple trees in the orchard, and saplings fighting for limited space and light, have now been cleared. There is a distinction between each of the trees that remain that wasn’t there before and at last the boundary of the garden can be viewed.

From the orchard back to the house – smaller trees have their own space

The well and orchard beyond clear of brambles

Karen working until the last of the light

Oh and the apple watch, well we will have to wait to see what appears. Meantime my own personal device tells me I’m hitting my step target each day in January so far.

A Year in Review (2021)

I’m often warmed to receive cards, or now emails, from friends telling me what they and their families have been up to during the year. I also realise that not everyone will want to scour through many long winded descriptions, on this blog, of what has happened since January 1st so I thought I would try and write a potted history of the last year by reviewing those posts myself and giving you my highlights.

JANUARY: the year began with a wish that the worst of COVID and lockdowns were behind us, which goes to show what you wish for doesn’t always happen. The negotiations to house purchase were in full swing but certainly not over the line.

FEBRUARY: I continued to write about our attempts to walk more and eat more healthily as restrictions around COVID continued to stifle social life. No more news yet on the house purchase and we are close to pulling out not being able to agree terms around access and the drive ownership.

MARCH: I at last wrote “The path to buying said property (sic. The Manse on Gigha), or alternative with equally good views, afforded by location with space to build a business, was fraught and has proved to be significant in time. However, I am delighted to announce at last that we have completed on the purchase of such a property and can begin planning the next stage of our life.”

Also bought this beast to help with the renovation and the trips to and fro Gigha

“Next week will tell us how fit we are and how good our estimates are to what we can do ourselves.” I wrote back in March – the answers were not very & more than we first thought.

This remains one of my favourite photos to this day. I again repeat “The photo attached is there to remind us of the beauty and potential we are saw on one of our first early morning visits to our new home. I will hold this image in my head next week when ripping out carpet and searching for the septic tank. Say a little prayer that it isn’t blocked and the bright start I envisage materializes.

APRIL: Still working and still travelling Cardross to Gigha on a regular basis (something that will continue until the end of June). Lots of help from friends made a good start on clearing more of the garden where we decided to concentrate effort until planning permissions were in place.

MAY: Mower purchased and field cut before we handed over the Old Manse to STV for filming. Whilst it remained secret at this time the house became the location of the murder in the autumn showing of (the hybrid crime drama / reality solve) Murder Island.

JUNE: The month the scaffolding went up and the removal of the concrete render started to be removed. We had identified that we wanted to get the externals of stonework, roof & gutters and windows completed in 2021 and this was a real landmark for us. The concrete render had, over the years, allowed water ingress that was trapped between it and the original stone causing damp. The task was always going to be huge to repoint and make watertight again.

JULY: Emphasis changed this month from Karen and Dan carrying the burden of work on Gigha, to myself and Dan as my contract ended. Delighted to be spending more time on the island and continuing the good work that had gone before. The month was spent clearing more of the outbuildings and making a start on the shepherds hut foundations.

AUGUST: Still enjoying great weather, further inroads were made in clearing the garden. Significantly, we identified and dug out the well in the walled garden – big thanks to our boy, Dan, who put in a big shift this summer and without his might we would have struggled to complete many jobs. Likewise, there are too many friends to mention, but Pete decided to drive from his midland base to holiday with us this year, a week spent cutting hedges probably wasn’t top of his bucket list but he tells me he enjoyed it! Another milestone too in windows being removed for renovation.

SEPTEMBER: The York family avoid divorce and serious harm to each other when building the shepherds hut. Joking aside it was a great project to demonstrate that teamwork can happen between us completing the majority of the build over three days in the month. Meanwhile window restoration was happening in a workshop far away, but stripping of render had stopped due to the wait to have scaffolding removed.

OCTOBER: First and importantly we became residents of our temporary home on Gigha, moving possessions either to the island, storage or the odd friend holding stuff. The scaffolding was removed to reveal the full glory of the Old Manse stonework. Unfortunately our builders have now committed to other jobs and with forecast weather the job won’t be completed in year but a good result on the aesthetic of the building. You can see the repair to the gutters, render to the chimneys and the monochrome finish that will adorn the exterior. We were also joined by approx 30,000 other in the shape of our bee population.

NOVEMBER: A flurry of activity saw the arrival of our caravan purchase (likely accommodation for 2022), and the start of the Old Manse windows arriving back from the workshop. In the gales of Gigha we took strides to making the shepherd’s hut watertight, struggling to purchase a tin roof as we had intended, roofing felt provided a significant challenge. No match for Karen and I though!

DECEMBER: The weather, after a cold snap in November, has again allowed for outside work and great results have been achieved in clearing the front garden. Difficult to show in pictures how much this has given back to us in space. In the wet weather though work on indoors is prioritised and we have now stripped out the attic rooms. They now provide storage as we move down the build.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wishing everyone who reads the blog and follows on Insta a very happy and prosperous New Year. May 2022 be all that you wish for, from us all at The Old Manse xx

The Renovation Diet

For as long as I can remember I have been overweight and in an attempt not to be I have followed many unsuccessful diets. There was the cabbage soup diet – a strictly prescribed eating plan for a week that involved, as you may guess, cabbage soup whenever you were hungry beyond the basic meal plan.

The cabbage soup diet worked at first shedding weight the first time I used it but second time around around saw zero weight loss. Until that is I went to the local hostelry to banish my blues, drank my body weight in lager, and was so ill for 48 hours I did indeed lose weight. Most unhealthy.

I had more joy nearly 10 years ago now when I tried the 5 2 diet. Eating sensibly for 5 fasting 2. But in the end with the regime abandoned the weight went back on. I have now though discovered the renovation diet, on which I have lost a stone in the last 6 weeks. Let me lay out some key points:

1. Move to an Island where there are no takeaways or convenience stores open for a quick fix when hungry or craving food.

2. Buy a house with 4 acres of land that you dedicate to clearing for waking hours of the day.

3. Buy 2 weeks food in advance, plan this to fill 3 meals a day for those two weeks. Place it in a freezer / fridge in a house approx 400 yards from the one you live. Only retrieve the food you intend to use that day to said living abode.

4. Ensure the weather in you chosen island is suitably wet and cold that you are not tempted to retrieve more when cravings hit in the evening. That’s it.

Back to the diary or the exercise regime for the last week or more. Two bigs jobs to tick off as progress.

Firstly, a big shout out to Paul who courtesy of storm Arwen stayed on island for a couple rather than one planned day this last week. Paul contributed to cutting back outdoors but had a huge input into ripping out the second attic room.

Back when we bought the room looked like this

Like the first of the attic rooms we intended to remove the strapping that was there to hold plasterboard. The remove the plaster from the gable wall to reveal the stonework beneath. As I often do, I’ll let pictures tell the story.

The exposed boards and skylight facing the hill

To have three of us concentrate on this task allowed us to complete the rip out in under 48 hours compared to days spread across 3 weeks for the other room. Karen and I the took a trip to the mainland to dispose of approx 30 sacks of rubble – again great exercise no gym required on the renovation diet.

The second task, I again must give thanks, this time to Donald and his chainsaw. With his help the front garden has been reclaimed. First Karen and I removed the dead buddlea and hydrangea before cutting the boundary trees to a height of 6 foot. The latter where the chainsaw came in handy.

The montage of pictures above shows the front garden when we bought. The reality was that over the summer, when concentrating on other areas, the plant life / weeds / bramble took over much more of the lawn by the time we started this task. There are pictures of interim states on previous posts and on Instagram @oldmansegigha but here is the result of which, we are very proud.

In front of the Old Manse the magnificent bay tree

The brown earth in front of the tree line indicates how far the garden encroached over the lawn

Some work to repair, but the drive is no longer impeded by overhanging bushes.

Most recently, to complete the inventory of tasks, we collected roofing sheets for the shepherd’s hut from the mainland. Our thanks to Ros for taking delivery at our old address and Dan for help in offloading in our absence. The sheets travelled safely in the back of the hilux yesterday to Gigha through wind, sleet and rain. All of which making me think I need a new waterproof.

Safely tucked away whilst more Christmas provisions bought at Morrisons Helensburgh.

It wasn’t all work though as I had the opportunity to indulge in no less than three of my favourite passions. In pictures below, first my photographic attempts to match present day Old Manse to photo archives of yesteryear. Second, my attempt at goose stew – those who know me, know how much I love to cook and a gift of goose breast prompted this meal. And third, but by no means least, a photo borrowed from @darkskiesgigha, of the recent planet watching hour. My friend Keith really knows his stuff and provided a fantastic tour through stars and time on the night.

Clockwise, the gift of goose, prep, 6 hours of slow cooker, the result

Blessed with clear skies for views of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter.

Peter, the stripper

So the good weather in Scotland finally broke and a realisation that a mix of inside jobs to go with garden duties would be needed the week I was joined by my good friend Pete. Pete and I have known each other since our early twenties when we worked at Rolls Royce together. He, like many of my friends from former lives, loves Scotland and will jump at the chance to visit, even if it means being put to work by his host.

Rain at the start of the week allowed stripping of wallpaper from the ground floor hall. A task that had long been identified as the damp had sorely affected the room and discovery of damage to the plaster walls underneath was necessary. I cannot spin an interesting story out of wallpaper stripping so I will offer a couple of pictures and move on. Needless to say the blog entry takes it’s name from this activity merely to grab attention!

Part abstract painting, part relatively good plaster.

Blue skies returned the following day, well overcast, but it doesn’t sound quite as poetic. Back to the garden and the main task of the week, to reduce a hedge that had grown to approx. twenty foot high down to a more reasonable six foot. The hedge borders the south of what is intended to be the formal garden, the hedge to the east was trimmed by a combination of friends back in May (thank again to James & John) and has produced a leafy screen of privet as intended at the lower boughs. We are hoping in time that this hedge can do the same, the first being so successful it needs a further trim.

Again I’m going to let the pictures do the talking but two days of clipping and a third of burning the cut privet resulted in the desired effect. Plenty of scratches, bruise and the odd burn as the privet fought not to be reduced to a reasonable height but I think we won in the end.

Before the cut on the left, after on the right for comparison

Plenty of hazards to snap back and catch you unaware when climbing to a height to cut.

Pete used as a yardstick to height of hedge throughtout.

I can now see the house from the garden…. just. Other obstacles still need to be dealt with.

Keen eyed amongst you will notice that our appointed joiner visited this week to complete all work requiring scaffold. The dormer window frames are now repaired as well as unnecessary vents removed from the roof, gutters are back and a final accent of black paint has been added to the chimneys. We think it’s all beginning to look rather good on the exterior and cannot wait to have the windows back in. All that in a little time as glass is still awaited in the workshop.

It wasn’t all work this week though, I did allow Pete a day off in the middle to explore the peninsula. Argyle & Bute have recently been promoting the Kintyre 66. A route of 66 miles, from which the name is taken, taking in Tarbert, Isle of Gigha, Machrihanish, Campbeltown and Skipness to name some of the stops. For anyone who is interested take a look at: https://www.wildaboutargyll.co.uk/destinations/kintyre-and-gigha/the-kintyre-66/

Although it was a wet day we (I) thought we would brave a trip to the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse. The beaches of west Kintyre made for stunning scenery on our drive down the Atlantic road of the west coast and visibility was good. Not so as we (Pete) drove the final seven miles of B-road, and then descended approximately half a mile by foot in the direction of the lighthouse. We did glimpse the associated build through the mist that Paul McCartney once so fondly sang about but at that point lunch in the old clubhouse at Machrihanish golf club looked far more appealing. I can highly recommend the fish and chips: https://machrihanishdunes.com/dine/the-old-clubhouse-pub/

A trip to Campbeltown for paint and provisions at the local Tesco, then a drive back up the east coast of the Peninsula. A half hearted attempt to find the Anthony Gormley statue at Saddell failed due to poor navigational skills but more luck was had in finding the Seafood Cabin at Skipness: https://www.skipnessseafoodcabin.co.uk/ Again you will observe the author has more joy in finding food related locations over historic artefacts.

Back on to garden clearing at the end of the week. Much more cutting back in the walled garden to reveal the space that one day will house vegetables, or at least we hope. And further clearing back into the orchard before we were joined by a larger work party at the weekend. Always great to have company and the first persons to brave pitching a tent to enjoy the wonderful views the meadow affords. More harsh pruning back in the front garden has made us realise too how much ground there is yet to be put to use at the front of the Manse, reclaiming this will allow much better access for vehicles. Further too it as uncovered some great flowers that should be less suffocated by others that have been dominant.

In the veg garden, access back to the orchard gained from cutting

Vegetable garden. more strimming and poly tunnel to be partially cleared

Hedge cuttings, now to be disposed of and path clearing along the west wall of the walled garden.

Front garden, for the first time the wall of the garden visible and the magnificent bay tree

So another week done and we are beginning to see potential being converted to actual physical gains. The north wall of the garden has trees identified, two fig, pear, olive and peach join a herb garden containing fennel and mint to name but two. The orchard needs much cutting but there are at least twelve apple trees bearing a good harvest of fruit – although I am told by those who have picked they are sour tasting. The vegetable garden has been cut back and while not quite bramble free is closer to being so bar the raspberry canes, blueberry and blackberry that have been identified and left intact. The least-formal formal garden has again been cleared of unwanted brambles and the two bordering hedges cut to a reasonable size leaving the mimosa and eucalyptus trees as centre pieces. A lawn is being discussed.

The house and external works are also coming together. The pictures above show the significant effort from our roofer and joiner to get us this far. The Isle of Gigha is becoming our home and we love it here, the peace an tranquillity are just what we wanted, the stunning sunsets and the clear night sky are both natural treasures that I will never tire of. So to finish this weeks instalment a view from the scaffold before it disappears (gives a great perspective of the Old Manse grounds) and some from the boat house where I have enjoyed the odd beer this week.

Not quite the colour to the naked eye but the view out from the boat house bathed in late sun setting behind us

And the view from the table – I highly recommend a visit

From the highest point of scaffold the view to the west

And to the East the grounds, so much achieved, so much still to be done and maintained…

Well well well!

Who would have thought, another week of good weather in Scotland. Gingers are still plastering on suncream (photographic evidence below) and taps are still off (photographic evidence withheld as not suitable for publication).

First let me tell you progress continues on the stonework of the building and soon the scaffolding will be down to allow final removal of render / rubble and pointing down to ground level. The chimneys have been re-rendered and are now resplendent in white, they have been joined by new window frames where the old ones were too rotten to renovate and both are starting to look the part.

White chimney just visible over the trees

Meanwhile Dan and I have been continuing some garden archaeology, well digging anyway. To his credit it was mainly Dan who was doing the digging and he started the task of excavating the furthest of the outhouses last Sunday. Self proclaimed Indiana always believed the floor of the building was around a foot deeper and he was proven right after more than an hour of digging. In the process of digging a channel from door to door we also realised how many slates are buried beneath, whether they are any use is debatable.

Arms plastered with factor 50 please note mum

Still lots of work to do there and the slates all need to be moved to another location to allow further clearing and, with pun intended, get to the bottom of this. Meanwhile I have continued to wield the brushcutter through the orchard. We are blessed with approximately a dozen well established apple trees (the walled garden also has fig, pear, hazelnut and olive although the latter two appear to be non-fruiting at present) but they are currently competing with brambles, nettles and a variety of yet to be established others. Anyway the orchard is looking clearer but again has a lot more work to progress.

One of the smaller trees cleared round and showing plenty of fruit…

The father and son team united for the next big job of the weekend, Dan joining me in the orchard for further excavation – this time of the well we knew to be located on the property. The well was easily identified by the small fence that did little to stop anyone getting to it in its decomposing state. The well had been significantly overgrown and we knew little other than it was fed from an underground spring.

Although it proved not to be deep we didn’t know that when we started so a fair amount of caution was taken as we cut back to reveal a couple of slabs protecting the opening. Fortunately, Dan was able to move them with relative ease to reveal a pool of water below.

Having found water we decided our best option was to empty, realising that the bottom was approx 3 foot down it shouldn’t take too long. Half an hour of pumping water saw us reach the bottom that was heavily silted so we set about removal.

You can just see a small amount of spring water beginning to flow back into the well after removal of silt and whilst it won’t be clean enough to drink it will be very useful for irrigation of the vegetable garden. At the moment, with the dry spell we have experienced, water is not filling the well fast though.

So these for me were the interesting things to tell you about but there has also been paying bills and arranging quotes for the internal works. There is much paperwork to be done to secure grants that we believe to be available to supplement our fast disappearing budget. The missing parts for the Shepherd’s hut still do not have an estimated date for delivery, which is hugely frustrating given this was meant to be a clean space away from the house once internal work started (the photo below is me collecting the internal wall who’s delivery was meant to coincide with an already built exterior). I’m attempting to escalate this problem but largely failing to get traction. The weather looks as though it is about to turn, meaning the good weather remains precious until the building is made wind and watertight. One can but hope, it is Scotland after all.

I can’t deny I’m happy doing all of this though!

Momentum

Things are starting to move forward at the Old Manse. The first wave of work was always to make the building wind and watertight this summer and we believe we have been able to co-ordinate professionals to do these works for us starting with a scaffolding company. The logistics of carrying a significant amount of metal on the ferry and erecting said scaffolding in itself presents a challenge and it is not without significant cost.

Next comes a team to who I most grateful. The plan is to start stripping render from the building, a task which we are unsure how long it will take until we begin work. We are of the understanding the concrete render was never suitable for the building, suffocating the airflow that is associated with the Georgian build. Where the render is damaged water ingress has been trapped against the outer wall permeating inwards and causing damp. Hence, removal is essential.

What comes next is wholly down to what we find underneath. If the stone is good enough we would like to leave it exposed and likely will employ a stone mason to point with lime mortar to establish the finish we want. This may or may not be practicable from a cost perspective. Again that comes back to the discovery phase over the next couple of weeks when we expose the gable end and seek advice on ‘what lies beneath’

Also planned for next week is the delivery of the shepherd’s hut kit. On Wednesday I intend to drive to Gigha with my good friend Paul, and take receipt of said package. I’m not one to often compare myself to Brad Pitt, but for anyone who remembers the final scene of the film ‘Seven’ where Brad drives to a location to meet a man with a package that’s what I’m referring to. The transport cannot take all the way to the island so I have organised a clandestine meeting in the car park at Big Jessy’s tearoom to move the load onto a trailer. The trailer I am borrowing from another friend on the Island, Richard, so likely I will first have to make the ferry trip over to bring back the trailer. The package size and the trailer size are a bit mismatched and why I quote the film ‘seven’ – I’m not entirely sure what I’m getting until it arrives having ordered online. I imagine though the story will be much less macabre.

In the meantime I have son to thank for his efforts in clearing ground to the final destination of the hut. He has also been doing pub research with our friend Campbell who has previously built huts on the Isle of Lewis,.

For some reason the uncovered outhouse puts me in mind of the Aztec zone in the Crystal Maze (another reference for those of a certain age). Still more strimming and clearance to do but we are tooled up for the job and looking forward to an exciting building project come July when I can dedicate more of my own time to proceedings.

Oh yes and one final footnote, as a teaser, the bees are coming on the 20th. More on that later.