Valkyrie

Years ago I used to be told not to let the dandelion sap get on my hands - true enough it made brown blotches where I'd gripped onto my clock to tell the time. Frequently. Ah well I was always the little rebel with regard to safe things that didn't require big tellings off! But nowadays that doesn't happen. Either the dandys have altered or my skin has - and come to think of it, I don't remember either of my two little devils angels getting blotched either.

It's very strange, like 8ft x 15ft or thereabouts - similar size to our current greenhouse. There is a large step down but there must have been some sort of doorway at some time. The walls are high enough to be an outbuilding while the ground is paved. There is an electric cable running into it from the main house (properly sealed apparently) so there must have been some sort of light set-up but the roof has long gone. Bike shed? But why the drop? The surveyor wondered if it was to overwinter plants. Storage? Possibly, but again - the drop! Perhaps we'll find a sort of drainage hole, although the surveyor never mentioned that. Ooh smoke house? Meat curing? I'm going to have to pounce on the elderly locals! Answers on a postcard please!

No worries - our accepted offer was low enough to cover those unexpecteds - and she was very happy with it, which has turned out rather fortunate for us. He said it would be fine for the two of us for a while, but if a big family moved in - well it may be another matter! Not exactly sure how they work but I'm going to find out pretty soon! Surveyor been and gone from here too. The ball is rolling along. We are more in chilling out mode now, most has been done and the garage is virtually finished. A few tools in the shed, propagator in the greenhouse to secure and pack away - now we do still have the box and packing for that! Bonus is I was up early, cleaned the house, done several washes and dry stuff ready to iron before the heat kicked in! Off to the shops. Usually I get large mayo (shameful - I should make my own but the little darlings no longer lay - but the new lot means yes, homemade lots of eggy stuff) but now on small jars at any time! Feels weird - I love to have nicely stocked cupboards and I hate seeing them so bare like Old Mother Hubbard's!

Pegs aplenty - and must buy shares in Airwick, Neutradol and Febreze! The thingy is rather damp - grotto? Oooh so many guesses and each one is probably wrong!

OK, our buyers' surveyor is coming tomorrow morning. Meanwhile our surveyor rang this morning with his findings. We had a full structural one done - nowadays it's called a buyers report. On the whole - "it's a lovely house" . . . but there are a couple of little things. The "but" isn't too bad really, I guess, well he didn't seem to think it was bad news. The house is sound - great! The boiler is about 20 years old and probably needs to be updated - especially to function economically. No problem. The septic tank is ancient and made of brick. Apparently it has never been emptied since before they moved there 10 years ago (hmmm, niiiiice) so he recommended changing that, again we figure that's OK. Funny thing though - the "sunken patio" roofless building with electricity that nobody knows about it's previous life - he has never seen anything like it before in all his surveying career! So the mystery remains. Where's Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys when you need them! Maybe Jules Verne's time machine is required. Well the good news is we can have polytunnels and greenhouses aplenty in the garden and there's no reason why we'd need planning permission to update the workshop and garage. He also suggested it would be great if we had a conservatory or extra room at the side of the kitchen to enjoy the view and the garden when it's windy. WINDY?!!! Well I expected it to be - for one it'll be exposed to westerlies and the easterlies, and perhaps we can put more woodland/hedging to the western edge and it still wouldn't affect the view. We told him that's what we intended - to extend the kitchen and have a garden room. Apparently planning permission for things are likely to go in our favour as we won't be affecting anyone. OH has said he doesn't want animals and he will not be looking after them when I'm not around. I'm thinking not this year but I'll have the final word! I fully intend to find someone who will step in for me when I'm "not around". There are pet sitting services for smallholdings - and I'll be in touch with DASH too. I can always insist on a cat or a few sheepsies and see what happens! Not having a stomping foot and a "NO" with acreage there to be utilised! I've been reading The Accidental Smallholder diary when they were in the smaller property - they had an acre, but my goodness what they did with it was amazing - it looked so much bigger than an acre!

Ripe tomatoes are fine, although while mine had the run of the greenhouse which provided a nice dry spot if it rained for many years (and most of the garden!) they never attempted to chomp the tomato leaves. I don't particularly like the smell - so I'm guessing they thought yuk too! Although they did rather like eating the sealant around the windows. Squirt does like a Sungold now and again!

Same with potatoes. Don't let them anywhere near those either.

I know a few peeps that would be well suited to that one!

Sounds a very busy time for you! But enjoyable. Hah! Just noticed Gary! Wow - the B & W photo looks great!

It also makes their urine go pink - I used to worry that "oh no - something wrong with the rabbit's bladder - need to call the vet!" and then I realised it was dandelions that she'd been scoffing. There are lots of little dandelion clock seeds floating around here recently from the grass verges. I like it that they don't cut the grass too much because there are lots of wild flowers popping up - my egg and bacon plants, bird's foot trefoil - is making a big comeback as a result. That means more food for the burnet moths - which we had the other year (and I make sure OH doesn't mow the egg and bacon in our garden - drives me nuts when he cuts it back). Although it would be nice for the council to come and mow before the dandelions change into pompom clocks!

It's lovely when you get in that "everything is awesome" state. The little things that make you smile is worth far more than money can buy. Love the duckies and that dress! I have enough trouble carrying the box with all the chicken cleaning gear through the door - thank goodness I don't have to wear that! Although I have a feeling "do my hips look big in this?" is a more recent thing! Super floral fabric at the back - silk? And I love the fan. One of those would have been very handy today!

Thank you! Yes, if you have horses (luxury items unless you can show them that they are working horses) the land must be equestrian, which means applying for change of use if it's farm land. We will probably apply for a smallholding status, registration when the time comes for us to branch out more - which includes the larger livestock. Chickens/veggies/orchards are permitted as long as the veg isn't turned into a pretty garden veg plot. We are going to join the Devon Association of Smallholders as soon as the contracts are exchanged as they are really helpful to newbies. There's also a farm in Somerset that does lots of smallholding courses and the lady will do a bespoke thing whereby she will come and help you to plan the land better for those with 10 acres or less - which sounds a good option. So plenty to keep us occupied in the coming months and hopefully one of the lovely Omlet ladies is hatching some ickle chickies and I might have a couple when they get bigger cheeps! So they'll be ready in plenty of time as we'll have set up by then. I have had a very excitable morning today! I've even sorted out names! We shall see what the little blue fairy brings.

Today we had removal people around to assess (basically interviewing them to see who we trust most) and thankfully the second fellow gave us the good vibes. I think what put us off the first bloke was that he said we should get a Kindle so we didn't have so many books and if you don't use something in a year then get rid of it - pfft I know some people say they like turning pages but really that's silly (hmm thanks for that - I do like books but OH has a Kindle). Then lots of intakes of breath when he saw we'd already started packing. Oh I don't like those boxes. We sort of felt like we were being chastised everywhere! Fair enough we may not use something in a year but the following year I'm sure we will. Common sense prevails as to what you will need to keep and to get rid of. And we have been getting rid of things - lots of things, either the dump or a good lot has gone to the charity shops. Children's books to keep potential grandchildren entertained, Playmobile (which is number one son's anyway) will be kept for entertaining for the same reason. We won't have a Wickes or some such 5 miles up the road so screws and nails will be kept and the same for the tools! Just bung your clothes on hangers in boxes - so much space is wasted at the bottom of hanger boxes and (insert sharp intake of breath yet again) it'll cost you. No box for tv (intake of breath) you'll have to take it off and wrap it yourself. Made you wonder if he was in the right business if everything was too much hassle - or perhaps he just wanted a two bedroomed house and was putting us off deliberately. Who knows? Second guy, family firm, said great you've made a big dent already. Crunch came when talking vans. Big vans won't have the room to reverse from the lane - no matter there's always a way - we have lots of smaller vans - especially with newer housing estates that are pretty much on top of each other. Wardrobe boxes - no problem, he had plastic ones that are more sturdy although they'd need to be returned. No box for the TV - no worries we have plenty to wrap that up in - no need to dismantle we can do that! My big craft table - yep we can sort that out. In fact he gave us so much info that the other guy didn't - that we were much more confident with him. He also had storage facilities so if for any reason there would be a problem they could come early and he had answers to questions we didn't even think about! Certainly brought up more information than the other fella. As soon as OH closed the door he said this is the one! And I said the same thing - JINX! And we haven't got the quotes yet!

Well we are lucky. The young lady is absolutely lovely. She's still on maternity leave and brought her mum and the little ones while husband is at work. She asked after the quilts because she wanted her mum to see! The little ones behaved so well - wore them out and the oldest one just laid down on the carpet and probably would have slept there - I did say did she want a lie down on the bed but she had a second wind outside running round the garden. They sound just like us when we moved here - we can grow this that and the other. A friend told her now she could have chickens. I said we did and still do - but they are at a field at the moment. Well, her eyes lit up! I think this place is going to be left in good hands! And chickens will come eventually. Same for me, although I'm ahead on that front! I was looking in madame's wardrobe for space to hide things away and discovered stuff that we took down to her house and other stuff that we shoved in the boot of her OH's car boot to take home with them - has now reappeared in the (what should have been) empty wardrobe. I can see a battle of the old school art tat commencing!