A photo of the Cothi in spate. I think you get the
general idea . . .
I can
still recall our last night in our old house in Dorset, left with
just a mattress and bedding to sleep on, a cot for little T,
breakfast and a kettle. Scary. We were going to live in
what was basically another country, as although we hadn't realized it
at the time, Welsh was the primary language spoken in
Carmarthenshire.
The
journey seemed to take forever. There was none of this "Collect
the key from the agent at X o'clock" - we just picked up the key
from the Farmer at his house. We were there sooner than the two
removal vans - neither of which could fit across the narrow bridge
over the river, and one of which promptly broke down on the spot at
the thought of it! That was still there the next morning, when
it finally got fixed and brought in another way.
Needless
to say, dusk falls early in March, and so we found ourselves
unloading furniture and belongings in the dark. Only the barest
basics were sorted that first night - T's cot put up (in the little
room where I type this) and our bed in the larger of the two front
bedrooms, next door. At some time in the past, someone had put
up a shelf on the wall in this bedroom, using 6 inch nails and not
much else. There was a carrier bag on it. We were beyond
noticing the niceties by this point and fell into bed, exhausted.
In the wee small hours I was woken by the sound of a carrier bag
rustling. Well, more than rustling, something was making quite
a racket. Somehow a mouse had scaled the wall into the carrier
bag (or perhaps it had set up home there) and was doing a Jane Fonda
style workout. My husband finally lobbed a shoe at the wall and
silence descended again.
Next
morning, husband and daughter fed, I set off up the hill to give my
old dog Tara a walk. I can still remember reaching the top and
looking at the view across the Cothi valley, towards Black Mountain in the distance.
It quite took my breath away - and still lifts my spirits today.
So we
set about getting the essentials sorted. We had a Rodent Problem in our new house. One night that first week I was sat
in the very green bath in the very green bathroom and a mouse came
out of a hole in the wall and began a wash and brush up. If it
was aware of me, it wasn't the least bit bothered - talk about bold
as brass! Oh, and those baked bean tin lids on the skirting
boards? That was to stop the rats coming out into the room!!!
Sadly, all the cats we had in Dorset had died on the main road in
front of the house. I might add, all these cats came unbidden to us
(much as they do here in fact) - I would never have chosen to have
cats on such a busy road.
So
we went on a visit to one of the many rescue centres in our area, Ty
Agored Animal Sanctuary near
Cribyn. We picked out a - very pregnant - black tortoiseshell
queen that we called Blackberry. The Sanctuary said that they would
rehome the kittens for us, and subsequently did so. Whilst we
were there, looking at cats and trying to make up our minds, we were
aware of a very loud purring from a box which turned out to be coming
from a small scruffy hairy black and white cat. "Oh that's
Grandma" one of the helpers said, laughingly, and later told us
she had been with them a week or so and because she wasn't a pretty -
or young - cat they expected to have her forever. Instead, she
came home with us, and with Blackberry.
Above, Blackberry and below,
dear old Tatty.
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One
of the first things we did in the house was to reinstate the
bricked-in fireplace in the kitchen. We always call it an
inglenook, although really it isn't wide enough. Anyway, it
took a lot of work digging it out and finding a replacement bressamer
beam. That was it being excavated anyway. (Apologies for sideways photo).
Anyway,
this was a year or so on from moving in, and I know that because
Blackberry's gorgeous big ginger son, Bumble, is curled up in front
of it. The Hergom stove was multi-fuel then and we burned
anthracite and big logs in it, to run the central heating, but boy,
did it gobble up wood and my husband found he was forever cutting up
logs for it. After a few years we had it converted to oil (it
seemed like a good idea at the time . . .)
What
we HADN'T realized until we got here was that the weather was quite a
bit different to Dorset. There was a bit more rain for starters
. . .
This
is the lane in front of our house, and what happens when it rains so
hard that the run-off from the fields turns it into a fast-flowing
stream . . . It doesn't happen very often, and soon abates, but it looks dreadful at the time.
Sorry
about the glare from the window in these, but I think you can get the
gist. Below is the river far right, with the run-off water a
foot or more deep, hurtling into the river at the bottom of the hill.
Below
- this is flooding further downstream at Pontargothi.
Yes.
We were beginning to find that life here was quite . . . different!
But I guess the scenery makes it all worthwhile BB
ReplyDeleteWell, it rains everywhere - we just get it first, and more of it (although I suppose Ireland gets it before us!) When the river comes up over the bottom lane we just come and go by the top route over the hill.
ReplyDeleteOh my. Thank goodness you weren't washed away.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We walked down the hill in wellies to take the photos - so it looked worse than it was. It just followed the path of the lane, and didn't come on our property at all. It's the run-off from the saturated fields.
DeleteOh My Goodness, what new excitement and worries come with moving into your new home. Love that the first thing you got was some much need cats. I rather like Tatty !
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
Tatty was SUCH a darling and amazed us by giving birth to a litter of kitten, despite being geriatric! We kept one, Foggy, who lived to be 18 and was an absolute darling too.
DeleteI knew you had done wonders in the way of renovations and repairs--but didn't realize how drastic until reading these three installments of the move. It sounds utterly daunting! I've always loved reading 'we moved to the country' sagas--and tales of reviving old houses, but, oh dear, we need youth and stamina on our side to tackle such herculean tasks!
ReplyDeleteThe years of our lives are delineated by the cats in residence from one decade to the next. In addition to dealing with the resident rodents, Blackberry, Tatty and their offspring must have given an air of comfort and serenity to your work in progress.