We were fortunate to find a new plasterer after Ian got a new job. Dave comes from Carradale and keeps trying to retire but is too much in demand. Along with Dave2 he did a fantastic job clambering about the scaffolding and planks like a proverbial monkey and has finished all the walls and ceilings in just over a week, including some loverly curves at the eaves. We still have to finish off the hall and stair wall but managed to finish flooring the main bedroom in merbau by hiding the worst bits under the bed! Since then, the weather has been fantastic so we’ve been working outside.
The veg and fruit garden is coming along fine (chickweed permitting). We had a load of type 1 delivered and made up a parking space at the side of the house as well as a graded path to the utility room door and finishing off the front of the garage.
Ali and I took a weekend off to go the S.E.D.A. AGM in Inverness and had the opportunity to meet like minded people and talk eco-houses. As well as talking, we visited the site of Scotland’s Housing Expo which has examples of every type of eco construction, including passiv houses and massive timber houses. It’s due to be finished by August and will be well worth a visit then.
Meanwhile, John built a wood store at the side of the house but it was nowhere near big enough and didn’t leave anywhere for sawing and splitting. So, the kitchen garden was abandoned and a larger space created where all that work can get done. Any sawdust and chippings will just get assimilated into the woodchip, rather than worrying about them spoiling a gravelled area.
We had a lovely visit from Emily and Richard. Partly it was about training for the Saunders Mountain Marathon and they got in 2 good runs, or maybe walks. Richard had set his heart on spending a day with the chainsaw and although he had anticipated chopping logs, he ended up making seats to be built into the bottle wall of the herb garden. We didn’t have enough bottles, which seems amazing when you look at the piles we do have, so could only build a quarter of it. Still, it looks fantastic planted up with the herbs. Well done Richard!
While we had the labour, we dismantled the compost toilet, shower and decking round the caravan and hauled the caravan off to the new parking space. 
Then we used up the remaining bags of woodchip where we had enough terram. It makes a huge difference to the view from the living room and we can almost imagine what it will be like with the barn away and the rest of the area tidied up. But if we put any more woodchip down, John is going to start neighing and insist on building fences and hedges to jump over.
We have also been collecting stones for the paved area at the front door. I didn’t get my Spanish wood door but we will have a nice cobbled path. The oak flooring for the landing upstairs has arrived. It’s such a shame to come back indoors when the weather is so lovely but we have to get together a list of things that must be done for the inspection and find out whether we have any unanticipated problems. We think we will have covered everything but fingers crossed!