Having earmarked the old Cider Barn as our office for the business, we made an agreement with the builders to both batton, insulate, plaster and lay a new floor. So, in advance of their arrival it was a case of clearing out the room. Having taken the press down last year, we were left with the large wooden blocks, still in the steels, so after a bit of wriggle, Mike, Martin and Rick moved the blocks out into the garage:
We were of course going to save everything and find some future use for it all, including the old tray..
Once the big items were removed, I got in and had a good rummage with the remaining. There were lots of treasures to be found (which I have since squirreled away into the chicken shed):
I had a good sweep out and left the place tidy ready for Sully to come in and batton the room out for plasterboard:
We decided to leave the gable end as an exposed stone wall, so doubled up on insulation in the roof and floor:
The walls were boarded out and a new window put in
(the old one came dislodged in a recent storm and was only single glazed):
And we had already run pipes and electrics into the room, which then fed under the drive to connect to the chicken shed at a later date:
The walls and ceiling got a coat of plaster:
We retained some of the old fixings:
The flooring was laid (a gift from Patrick after he was left with excess from an old job):
And we really liked the way that the old and new worked together throughout the room:
The attention to detail around the old step is brilliant:
And the new door
(modeled on both the old stable door and those over in the barns)
- is just fab!
Now all we need to do is paint it, connect the electrics and we will have a fully functioning office!
