It's me again!

[Anna]

Hopefully this will work!

[Anna]

WOW!! It did LOL!! Ok will try for more in a minute or two. Sorry the pic doesn't show the barn properly but it is a really old Welsh stone barn (over 150 years) built simply on hard bedrock - no normal footings. Internal measurements are 60foot long by 16 foot wide, walls are 2 foot 6/10 inches thick. We used it for storage early on and then for stabling. As the barn is narrow in width the rooms now inside go right across the width and the middle rooms are all 'open plan' - no complete walls. So looking at the picture my bedroom, plus en suite, is at the far end (right), the middle has a lounge, then a kitchen then a dining area - all open plan. The end you cant see (left) has Cathy's bedroom plus a bathroom and a utility with a back door. All rooms have windows and also exit doors to allow plenty of light in. It had a thick concrete floor which had to be dug up and carted away - by hand!! Unfortunately due to building regulations, all the lovely internal stone walls had to be covered/filled in with wooden struts and insulation boarding. So I will post a few more pictures showing the work going on - use your imagination!!

[Anna]

More pics.

[Anna]

Sorry the pics are not that clear. That's daughter Cathy 'swinging' from the steel girder - my bedroom is/will be behind her, I'm standing in the 'lounge' to take the pic. lol!!

[Anna]

Those last three pics show the door to my bedroom (under that girder), Cathy and g/son Hamish discussing ?? and the start of the kitchen fitments. Now I have to go browse my pictures to find you the last few of a more or less finished place. Of course there was also all the outside work to do - drains to be dug, septic tank to be sunk into the ground, water supply to be bought in, plus all the extra internal work to be done, plumbing, central heating etc etc but that is just soooooo boring - if time consuming at the time!  Back soon if I can discover the other pics.

[Anna]

Think I have found the remaining pics .......
Shows glimpse of lounge through open plan to kitchen. Cooking end of kitchen and view from kitchen looking down to dining area. Then repeat of front of barn as it looks now.

[dcwolcott]

WOW!!  What a lot of work, and it looks fantastic.  And knowing you, even the outside has decorated landscaping!  You must be so happy!  What a wait.....but well worth it!

So glad you sent all the pictures.  I've often "pictured" what you were talking about when all this started, and so nice to see the finishing project!!!

[Ryan]

Thats looks amazing Anna

[Anna]

Hi all - have any of you had trouble getting on here? Sometimes I just cannot seem to get a connection - but it may be just my laptop! Well you all seem to have been a bit busy - Ryan with his trip away, his important birthday and the birth of that beautiful filly. Diane luckily missing that awful storm and Chanda sadly finding yet another coon. Then news of the first confirmed foal for 2020 and hay storage for the coming winter months. We have to buy our hay as and when we need it as we have no storage barn/spaces left now, but have a supplier close by who always has plenty - just gets a bit pricey as the winter progresses. However we have some 12 acres of grass/fields that we set aside each summer to allow to grow up and then die off - so it is just like hay but still attached to the ground! We let the horses in to them in December and they rummage through the roughage throughout the winter. It is great if we have snow as a few pawings at the snow and they are rewarded with hay length grass - keeps them warm too! Last winter we only used 8 large round bales as extra feed for some 20minis and they all came through to spring looking like fat donuts lol!! So hoping for the same success this year. Will try to get a few pics soon of the motley crew.

[dcwolcott]

When I still lived in New York and we raised Arabians and Black Angus cows, we did the same thing with our pastures, letting the grass grow up and never cut it, but during the winter let the animals forage that acreage.  Worked like a charm!

I can almost "see" your motley crew in the winter, and can't wait for more pictures when you can!

As to connections, I think Marty had some updates going on, so that may have been the problem, but it should be resolved now.  Let me know if there's a continuing problem.

[Silver City Heritage Farm]

Hello Anna!!

Thank you for sharing all of your updates. I too appreciate(d) all of your pictures over the years.  I have one particular shot of a dell covered in purple flowers that I hope I still have saved on my laptop.  If I can find it, I will share it here. With your permission, I'd like to use it as an illustration for a poem I've written titled "Angel Foals".

To everyone else...yes, I've popped in too! I just wanted to comment here and check on Ryan's mare. (I peeped into this forum about 10 days back, so need to see the baby.)

I've not been on the forum either...life has been unkind since the loss of two of my dogs in July of 2017. I'll try to post an update this week.

Again, it's good to see you Anna!! Though we didn't talk much on the other forum, I truly enjoyed getting to "know" you there! Congrats on your fab barn home. I laughed a bit about your "walking around in a tee shirt" comment. It shows how comfortable and trusting we are with each other here.

[Anna]

Hi Julie, long time no see! I think you mean a picture of the bluebells that flower every May in our wooded and dell area - please feel free to use the picture wherever you want. Any chance that we can also see your poem?

[Silver City Heritage Farm]

Hello Anna! I hope the terrible winterish weather forecasts I've been seeing online have spared you the worst of it. I can handle cold.  I can handle wet. Cold and wet together?  NO, no and no!!

As far as the poem, it looks like I'll have to re-write it.  During the upheavals of the last year, it seems that notebook has been misplaced.    I know I can do it, because the theme is so imprinted on my heart.  I just hope it turns out as special as that photo is.

[Anna]

Yes Julie, parts of the UK have been suffering some really bad floods etc. Luckily we live high up in a forest area so no flooding here but we do get some pretty strong winds and lashing rain at times. Sorry you lost your copy of the poem, do try to rewrite it (or something similar) if you can.

[Anna]

PHEW!! Well that's the holiday season over - or let's say the chaos over! Of course it is lovely to see all the family when they descend upon one for 5 or 6 days but gosh the total peace and quiet when the last car pulla out of the yard and they are gone!! It really is a bit of a squash for this poor little barn but I swear the sides bulged at time to house us all, plus of course two totally lunatic dogs and how much gubbins does a two year old baby really need?? LOL!! Next year I'm going back to Sussex to descend upon them - my New Year resolution! Oh and someone came visiting bringing with them a cold bug which has left me with rather a grotty need for loads of tissues and hot toddy's grrrrr.

So how did you all fare over the Christmas season - are you back home now Diane? How are Katy and family? Have you all been celebrating New Year - really hope that 2020 is going to prove happy, healthy and peaceful for you all. Now we are just concentrating on getting through the rest of the winter months and looking forward to the coming of Spring. Except for you Ryan - saying prayers for some rain for poor Australia. The pictures and images coming from there are really totally horrific, I just cannot imagine how folk are coping. And will there be any end to it unless it rains, really rains? So very very sorry for you all.

Nothing much changes here. My little herd of 'feral' minis are happily chomping their way through their winter fields - looking very portly too. The days pass, the dog and the cats get older, I get older. Another birthday has just passed and I realised that in just another couple of years I shall reach the grand old age of 80 - where did all those years go, so many memories, good times and bad, but mostly good I have to say!

Well all for now my friends - roll on 2020, the foaling season will soon be upon you and new little ones will be making their way into the world. Exciting times ahead. Good luck!