Two Chapters follow:
One about the house (very brief except for some photos) and the other
about our current house sitting adventures (a few photos) we will post more
about this trip to the UK later
We moved into the house at 14 Cedarcliff Circle, Asheville,
NC 28803 a few days before Thanksgiving and had a wonderful “Gratitude” party
on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
We
painted and painted those strange colored walls, George and his helpers got our "Big Dig" filled in, a new deck built and the land regraded...
and we worked with the
contractors on getting the ‘popcorn’ ceilings smooth, the bathrooms done, the
stairs rebuilt, the floors done, etc - we are ready for guests and have had it tested out by our kids at Christmas time and the Goldens for New Years....reports are that it's comfy, so come and try for yourself!!
– and we just got all the windows and some
of the doors replaced finishing the day before we left for England and our 6
week house sitting gig! (Having covered some furniture with sheets.)
But. the current news is about our house sitting task - this time is to mind a 300 year old
B&B in the very East of England while the owners visit family in Australia. There will only be one guest, who comes and
goes as he pleases and takes no meals. A
cleaning person will see to his room, so for all intents and purposes, the
B&B is closed until the owners return on March 1.
This part of England is new to us, and we are quickly
finding that it is full of unique and interesting cities, towns, geographical
features and human artifacts.
We are in
the county of Norfolk (pronounced “Norfook” here) - an unusual feature of the
area is the Norfolk Broads (not to be confused with the women who lived in
Susan’s hometown in Norfolk, CT).
These are
lake-like bodies of water that were created when people in the middle ages dug
peat for fuel and then these areas filled with water.
They, along with the many canals and rivers
are now enjoyed for recreation often in the form of canoeing and water
cruising.
Who knew?
Our B&B is in the village of Coltishall, on the river
Bure, which connects with the Broads in several places. It is a lovely little river, and the property
here adjoins it.
Coltishall is about 8
miles north of Norwich (pronounced “Norridge”), where we arrived by train from
London on 14 January. We wandered around
the periphery of the city of about 110,000 wondering where we were since there
are zero road signs. By sheer luck we
found our way to a mid-city shopping center and a phone store where we activated
a five year old British cell phone. Now
we can order Indian takeaway from the shop down the street and loan the phone to Bev & Bruce Nightingale who will be visiting the UK in May.
When we left the phone store it was dark, and snow began to
fall. We found the right road, got to
our destination and met the owners of The Bridge House. We took them for really good food to the
Recruiting Sergeant gastropub, a 6 – 7 minute walk from the B&B. More snow fell the next morning, and movement on the roads began to slow. The road through
this wee village rises to cross the river, and a long line of vehicles formed
as one lorry couldn’t get up the grade.
As we watched the action from the front windows, villagers emerged to
throw sand on the road and push cars to get things moving again.
Our hosts left two days later, after teaching us as much as
they could about the house, the associated buildings and the supporting systems.
You can see it all on their web site at
www.BridgeHouse-Coltishall.co.uk
Most of the space is not insulated and
it has been COLD here –we’re told this is the worse that’s been seen in at least 10 years.
We are mindful of heating costs so are
keeping the heating off in most of the house but comfy in a small area – the
“Snug” – that is equipped with a great wood/coal stove.
We are learning how to manage this, and we’ve
been left a substantial supply of coal and wood cut to just the right size.
In spite of the snow, we’ve been to a couple of grocery
stores several miles away and to the laundry as the drain pipe for the washer
froze creating a mess. The plumber was
in Brazil and the electrician on a skiing trip, so we contacted the heating contractor who came that evening. The
washer drains to a long, bent and inadequately supported outside PVC line and
it froze in the low spot. They shored it up with an
upside down flower pot found nearby and proclaimed it a very professional fix. We await warmer weather so we can do laundry
without the drive to the unheated laundromat.
We’ve
done some other driving around especially along the shore from Gt. Yarmouth (a
funky summer resort town with a really interesting church), up to Cromer (where the crabs are legendary
but out of season). The countryside is
beautiful, very rural with lots of windmills, lighthouses, beautiful old
churches and ruins. Many of the houses
are “flinted” – covered with small, flat stones placed one at a time in the mortar
covering the entire exterior.
We promise more in a few weeks - the owners of Bridge House return on 1 March and we don't fly back until 9 March so are considering a whole host of possibilities before returning to the States....London is high on the list, but so is Belgium where Susan's grandmother was born - we don't know anything about the "Timper" family except that they were from Belgium where we have never been. Hugs all and merry winter!
