house renovations

Our Little cottage is a semi detached property. As far as we can find out, it was built in the 15th century and was the 2nd house in the hamlet. The first was a hunting lodge for the local gentry.

Originally it was one big house, with a huge central fire place. The Cavalry used to stop here to rest and the stables were opposite. The central fireplace (which is now in our neighbours half of the house) was where they dried off the wet uniforms and kept warm, - the cooking fire place and bread oven was in our half - unfortunatley in the 1970's modernisation, both were ripped out and filled up. We have since installed a cheap and chearful wood burner that heats the house completely. We have also added a large covered outside eating area, as we found in the heat of the summer there was very little shade in the garden. Next project when we are rich enough is a pool! (Although as we look after 18 of them already, we might be sick of the sight of them before we could actually afford one!)