Progress continues & Crofting news!

A quick update from a wet, windy and storm-bound Scotland. 
Today it got dark at 14.30. Winter is truly here. 

Luckily, to dispel some of the gloom, we received a progress update along with the most recent invoice yesterday. 

Photos not very exciting so I have resisted the temptation to post pictures of the plumbing fittings, the hot water tank, the air source heat pump and boxes of bathroom fittings. Suffice to say they are on site and may well have been fitted by now. Things seem to be moving quite fast at the moment but we know there will be a slowing down to a full stop in the next week when everything is battened down and wrapped up for the Christmas and hogmany break. 

Here are the photos which excited us and hopefully will give you some idea of progress. 

Exterior with drive area getting cleared

The scaffolding is all but gone. The blue container is where the garage would have been if we could have afforded one. Who knows what might happen in the future? In the meantime this will be the parking area.

Wonderful window

This corner window is in the dining area and looks over the copse on the croft and through to the loch. Those trees will need some thinning. Very clever design with no support just wrap around glass. We love it.  

Neil (architect) surveys the lounge from the mezzanine area

 The lounge and other rooms are really starting to take shape now. Plasterboard mostly fitted, underfloor heating fitted and being tested. Not long before the painting can start. 

Hallway taking shape. Looking towards the storm porch door. 

 A beautiful oak door plus panel will be fitted into this space to create the inner hallway. The boarding is off the glass roof panes and you can just start to see how light will flood into this area. The hall looks huge! Time to start thinking about what furniture will fit where. Pictures, mirrors, bits and pieces we haven't seen for more than two years. How exciting is that?

It has been just as wild on Skye in recent weeks and the house appears to be standing up well to the constant battering of the wind and rains. 

In Crofting news - we have heard (finally) that the Crofters Commission have agreed to the assignation of the croft. Which means that as long as there are no objections by the 20th January 2014, the land will be ours to lease.  Well, that's only taken 20 months then. Gary will now be an official Crofter. Looking forward to putting that down when asked for job / profession. We owe thanks to a couple of organisations that helped us in replying to the final list of questions about what we were going to do with the land. We have said that neighbours can graze their stock on the croftland - fine by us but hope they realise just how steep and overgrown it is. 

We have managed to get out once in the last three weekends. Winter weather of the stormy kind continues. Not cold or snowy but too wild to venture too close to trees, rivers or exposed hillsides. 

We are heading to Skye again the second weekend in January and managed to get a good deal at the Duisdale Hotel for two nights. Very posh hotel with fine dining and cosy public spaces. Can't wait, although the real draw is a day's walking somewhere on the island and a site visit on the Monday. Tiles, kitchen, floors all chosen. Plenty of measuring to be done and imagining where furniture will be sited. Plenty of photos to follow. 

Until then. Happy Christmas and not long before we can share all of those pics.  

Heading to Wales for a few days over the festive period so watch out for pics and tales of a Welsh Christmas.