So, the list of work that was carried out on our little house:-

a LOT of replastering of walls!
Total redecoration
Bathroom converted in to a 'wet' room (shower room in other words!)

The tiny kitchen - with one cupboard (remember, there were 4 of us!) extended into what had previously been the tiniest dining room I have ever seen! All the kitchens had been extended in these houses a couple of years before, except this one as the elderly lady who lived here could not have coped with the mess and upheaval, bless her - but did the council do the job when the house was empty? NO! That would have been too easy! So we suffered it for 18 months! Our first Christmas was a disaster! There was absolutely no room to move and no work surfaces on which to serve up the dinner! Also, Gramarye is exposed to the elements on 3 sides, and in winter is absolutely freezing! Our energy bills are astronomical! Anyway on this first Christmas Day, to add insult to injury, the thermostat was in the kitchen! So, because the kitchen was so hot with the oven being on, the thermostat turned the heating off! I WAS NOT A HAPPY BUNNY!!! And I vowed I would NEVER go through that again! (Although I did - once more, in 2007)! So, when everyone got new boilers, we had the thermostat relocated to on the stairs, and as mentioned, we eventually got our kitchen!

The other work we had to fight for, was for the garden at the back to be rotivated. When we moved in, it was very overgrown, and the true nature of what lay beneath was not visible ...

more to follow, as my darling son wants to use the computer!