Author Archive
The New Look.
We finally stopped eating and Marco has, in the last 2 days, got some amazing photos and stitched them together, ‘Putain quelle discipline!’ We really like the results so we are going to let him loose on the website. Look out for an entertaining update of the ‘House’ section of the site over the next few days.
It’s been a beautiful week, which is a good thing because the oil for the aga just ran out.
The Grand Anniversaire.
With the renovation of the interior pretty much complete the tallest Frenchman has been here this week celebrating his 30th with his tall father. It has been quite a party (of which more later). We were sad to find that the Wee Spey Dram whisky shop is no more, an event I’m sure was reflected by this incredible apolcalyptic cloud which descended today.
The Home Straight.
The kitchen and the back corridors are finally done, the red lino has come up and gone out through the windows, we have scraped the glue from the floorboards, spent the weekend sanding and waxing and making shelves for the pantry, caulking cracks, polishing pans and touching up the paintwork.
Phew.
Wiv a little bit of luck.
The house will be ready to rent in 3 weeks…
Been up the chimneys and cleared the flue for the boiler.
The kitchen.
Today we are finally tackling the kitchen, keeping it Edwardian and keeping the chickens out of the paint.
India Alba at Alvie House.
Alvie House have been hosting some remarkable concerts recently and last night was the turn of India Alba. India Alba combines two Indian classical musicians, Sharat Srivastava and Gyan Singh, and two Scottish folk musicians, Ross Ainslie and Nigel Richard. Sharat’s sliding fiddle, Gyan thundering through the drums, Nigel on the Cittern and Ross on pipes and whistle. Last night they were joined by the local talent, Bo Jingham, Charlie McKerron and Adam Copeland, on the pipe and two fiddles respectively. The result was electric. The crowd (90 odd) loved it, the musicians loved it and the after party in the North Wing was a real privilege.
The Earthship Project.
We had a preliminary meeting with the Cairngorms National Park on our alternative camping scheme. The plan has evolved in the month that Jimmy has been here to comprise a large central earthship building, buried into a hillside with a thick earth roof planted over with heather and with wood fired hot water, no electricity, space for 30 to eat hostel style and the accommodation built on the same principles but spread thinly through 13 acres of birch woods.
The initial response was very favourable, we still have to run a feasibility past highways, SNH and a few other bodies, plus its going to be a weird thing to draw for a planning application, the first draft looks like a hamburger. Watch this space.
The Solstice.
Dan, James and Eliza made an unscheduled return after a wet week on the wild north coast around Durness. Ironically Dan was lost to a slightly squash related accident in the early hours of Friday and he decided to take the sleeper back, leaving the rest of us to mark the shortest night by fishing our way through it. It got slightly dark around midnight and by half two was getting light again with mist rising in a ghostly ribbon all along the river.
On the subject of ghosts the previous occupants of the house are proving a benign team. The house is so Edwardian that Petra compared it to a Nancy Mitford novel and mum wants to develop Inshriach Cluedo; ‘Captain Bob, in the bathroom, with a newspaper’ and so on. While Eliza revelled in the luxury of Mrs Black’s four poster James has been the first occupant of the poor room, and the consensus is that it should stay poor, or get poorer. We are going to put in some secret doors. The only slight worry was the apparition photographed here but I’m sure that this unfortunate will rest peacefully when I get round to a new light fitting.
Home Work.
This last week we have had ‘Health and Safety’ Dan to visit with Eliza and James, and we had the Buss family back. My new favourite book is ‘Home Work, Handbuilt Shelter’, by Lloyd Kahn, which Hannah brought for me after I set them up with a night in a bothy and we talked about putting an eco hobbit scheme in the woods behind the house. The book is packed with determined and imaginative scavengers, a model we are going to have to follow, and on our rounds Jimmy and I took to Aviemore, retrieved a Crittal window, a wrought iron gate and a bike from the tip and most of Victoria Wine on the way home (the physical building, being refitted, and Jim doesnt drink anyway).
We have also been having a clear out round the farm, Jimmy has adapted the monkey bike, a bread crate and a golf trolley for moving small items at great speed.
The Cruiser.
The renaissance continues…
We have cut out the floor, removed the doors, finally managed to roll the car onto its side and hired a grit blaster that cuts through everything. Also found out that shipping the necessary parts from Texas will cost as much as flying there myself and collecting them. Any ideas?
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