This time last year, it was dry as a bone. You could see dust as you drove down the farm track to the road. As the month wore into April and my mind shifted to turning out of the animals, my concern was that it was so dry that the grass simply wasn't going to grow and that we'd need to keep the animals in the sheds for longer.

This winter is has rained almost every day for 6 months. That is half the year you know! But every now and then I get a sense of spring. The celandines are out, little nettle sprigs are appearing, frogs and toads, even newts are saying hello. Our dear friends from Africa have of course not arrived yet, but the bird song is getting louder and I can now wander around the farm at 6 in full light. Surveying the fields and hedgerows, breathing in the signs of Spring like a sponge.

Ah the shifting seasons! We love to moan about it, but imagine how dull it would be if the sun set the same time every day? The weather stayed the same throughout the year. No variance, no change. The closer you get to the equator the more true this is.

The sogginess, means the pigs are in a flood of slurry by the feeder, every welly step is met with a squelch and the cabin is a developing island in a sea of sticky clay.

The Nap is gathering momentum, slowly but surely. We hope to have visitors in 6 weeks.....hmm! Plumbing 2nd fix started today and I started the cedar cladding at the front. The plaster on the vast ceiling is going a whitish pink and painted wood samples line the kitchen wall awaiting a decision. But there is still so much to do and I am but one person building a small but perfectly formed house.

The real difficulty for this whole build, is the other pressures, from family to feeding the animals, to lambing to calving, to making TV ads and last but not least, the desperate need to develop new revenue streams before its too late...

The strains and pressures of a family trying to live off the land.....

17th January.

Something plays on the radio, jazz funk of some form. All good.

Feeling much more chipper than last time. My arms hurt from physical work, my face feels weather beaten. My hands are spattered in black paint. But my mind feels clear and fresh. The relentless toil of the cabin, continues, mainly internal works, vapour barrier, OSB on the structural lateral walls, and when the weather allows I’m out cladding in beautiful cedar the Northern gable.

The coffee hopefully has brewed now, so I shall pour that and come back to you…

Ok, coffee in a ‘Labrodor’ mug. Speaking of which, the dogs are insane. Zippy is spending every second she has to shag poor old Tarka, who looks brow beaten and slightly scared. ‘Oh no not again, she’s coming for me’ She doesn’t think, ‘but Zippy, you are a girl, you can’t shag me’ That because they is both bitches innit.

So circumstance haven’t really changed, we are still in the same boat (literally in this weather) but my mental state is coping with the storm, perhaps shutting it out is more appropriate than ‘coping’ Its coming. But its not there yet!!

I have been thinking how exciting the cabin is, I mean there is light at the end of the tunnel, we can start thinking about décor, bathroom units, and the whole marketing machine behind it. I must write a blog. I keep putting things off as I have so much to do, but soon I need to get a small website together and start posting to the world…Facebook is another thing that needs to happen.

I took a short break an hour ago and slumped in one of the chairs and looked out across the fields towards Kings Nympton, it was sunny and breezy, and it reminded how bloody cool this whole project is. Those lucky guests, who can sit in that same position, the fire crackling behind, supping a tea or some find bodied red wine, relax, breathe, slow down, do nothing, just breathe and marvel.

That’s what I’m going to do when this bad boy is built, even if its just for an afternoon, I’m going to do exactly that, SIT, BREATHE, SLOW>

Back to the grindstone!

March - still a soggy state

Bright but blindingly chilling...