The garden room – in progress

Now it’s not really ready. But you saw a glimpse of the room this past blog (post number 2400!) so I thought I’d best show you around.

It sits below the new extension, next to the potager.

And is very airy owing to it being just three arches and lots of stone walls.

Cold and airy. And when the wind really picks up…..

You get the picture.

I have a vision here and you’ll just have to take my optimistic rose tinted spectacles vision into account. Sometimes you have to dream big.

A large table in the middle. For potting up, potting on, making a mess.

There was a better table down here. Over two metres long. Perfect. But it had to go up to the guest house as the dining table there was nabbed for the extension as the Map Table.

Right now I am using two trestles with the old door from the cellar. Which had been propped up in an outbuilding for a decade. Excellent bright green (not). This was the original colour of all the shutters here. If I get a rush of blood, I’ll repaint. Or sand it back.

I have yet to unscrew all the locks and things which snag one on the way past.

And as its a pile of rotting junk, I am able to sweep stuff straight on to the floor. That being my favourite thing.

And then around the walls will be shelving for my pots and vases. Right now I have trestles again with two old shutters that were removed when we enlarged the window in the living room.

And a rickety plank of wood.

A place for garden tools to save me having to hike all the way up to the potting shed.

That worked. Well, almost. I was going to put the half barrel here in the corner to store the tools. More fetching than white buckets. But when I went to pick up the half barrel it fell apart in my hands. And barrels once undone are never going to be whole again. (I think I almost had a quiet weep when that occurred.)

I have yet to fully explore the light play against the gorgeous pale mortar of the walls, but it would be perfect to be able to photograph my flowers against my colourful panel backgrounds. (Sap green, Dutch orange, Pitch blue).

So, it’s a start. I have already managed to forget which location I had stored a pair of secateurs and ended up plodding all the way to the potting shed (delighting the Creature who always equates the shed door opening as an opportunity for food) only to realise they were on the central table after all. Hidden under a pile of mess.

So this photo essay isn’t going anywhere.

Have some shots of my first sowings instead.

Padron peppers, capsicum, leeks, cavolo nero kale, lettuce.

I rarely sow before March. But this 2021 is about as gloomy as the last pandemic year. So I needed cheering up.

It’s the first thing I inspect in the morning en route to lighting the fire and putting the water on the stove for coffee.

Bring on spring.