House Work

Owning a holiday home in Devon is all very nice and a great place to visit and relax; but like all homes, it requires maintenance and looking after.

We normally leave the major work to the off season after the end of bookings. So that is one of he reasons for this particular visit. We have just had insulation installed across the whole of the floor area. As this had to be applied outside it involved a workman lying on his back battening and insulating with about six to twelve inches head room. A bit like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling I guess.

We decided the quote for re-varnishing the outside walls was something we couldn't afford at the moment, so would do it ourselves. When I say ourselves, of course, I mean Ann. Here she is starting the job by sanding down the existing varnish. She is being watched by Dylan and given encouragement by me as I took photographs.

Later we went to Dawlish to borrow some ladders from Colin. After we'd worked out how to set them up (combined ladder and step ladders) we found that luckily Ann was able to reach the highest points. My contribution was to give advice and hold the ladders steady, a very responsible job I feel.

Tomorrow she will start on the varnishing (weather permitting).