Bryant and Hannah have a home in England! The beautiful thing about homes in the United Kingdom is that most have a name. Just like you, your sister, your dog, and I do. Ours has a name, too! It's Pollardswood Cottage. 2 Pollardswood Cottage, actually, because it was a gatehouse back in the day and was converted to two separate houses in the late 1970s. We live on a really great street that is actually known for being the residence of several famous and rich people. It's funny, because our house is so modest next to almost all of them!
You may notice the material of the roof looks different. It's THATCHED! Our roof is made of thick, dried hay, lades and gentlemen. Apparently this is a big thing in only a few places in the world and England is one of them! Ours was actually designed by a famous thatcher, of whom the name escapes me at the moment. We learned all of these great things when we first moved in mid November.
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| Bryant is excited to have a house! |
We have a small yard, or garden, as the locals call it, and it's fenced in with a small driveway. Our household goods came on the 1st of December and we are almost done putting everything away. Moving into a house is a lot like cleaning up your room, only on a much grander scale. Confession: most of what is left is my (Hannah's) stuff in the bedroom and getting around to making the bed.
The charm of our house comes with a few downsides. The biggest one for us at the beginning was the narrow and low staircase. We were not able to fit the box spring of our American Queen mattress up the stairs! We really don't have much room for this problem, so for a couple weeks we had a giant square leaning against the dining room wall.
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| Very depressing! Our box spring. |
We have already have two major holidays in this house. We hosted Thanksgiving Dinner for a couple of friends from work. We had never made a full turkey dinner before and there were only four of us. We bought a turkey breast instead and made a sweet potato casserole and stuffing all in the AGA!
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| Our first Thanksgiving! Bryant had a mustache at the time. |
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| Cassie and Steve, our Thanksgiving guests. Bryant learning how to carve. :) |
This house is the perfect Christmas cottage. Because we took a break from blogging in December you weren't able to see the transition into the Christmas sprit, but here are a few shots of what it looked like last week, only with a lot of presents under the tree:
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| The dining room |
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| Our Norway Spruce from the local garden center and Mr. Snowman. |
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| Our Sculpey Nativity made an appearance on the window ledge. |
Sorry we didn't update you with all of this stuff sooner so that we could update you with detailed, more up to date, events now. A short summary...
Christmas was a wonderful break and we are really settled into our home and enjoying hosting my sister, Sarah. We've gone on several short trips including to London, Cambridge, Ely, and Bath. We have slowly been becoming acquainted with our neighborhood and England life. We have been going to a small Baptist Church in Beaconsfield and attending a Tuesday night Bible study. New Year's weekend was relaxing at home while Sarah and I relived our Bath trip by watching both versions of BBC's Persuasion by Jane Austen. I have also started reading the book. :)
We are so excited for this new year, but can't imagine any year being better than 2011. For a special New Year's treat be sure to watch the New Year's Eve celebration in London from last night. Bummer we didn't think to go. Perhaps next year!
Cutest house ever!!! :D
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Happy New Year to you! So fun to see you and your house! A couple of questions: Is there a curved wall on the front of your house? And what does AGA stand for? I read the link you posted...what an incredible appliance. Glad to see you're having such fun exploring your surroundings.
ReplyDelete@Sandi
ReplyDeleteHi Sandi! The whole house is curved because it was used as a gate house at one time. The curve follows the road outside. Not sure what Aga stands for. I'm not sure if it stands for anything or it's just the name. I'll research that. Hope all is well in Cook.
A thatched roof?! That is so cool! I’ve read somewhere that it is the roof that offers the best insulation. But you’ve got to maintain it for it to last long. For one, you have to clean and redress it as often as possible. Another thing about thatched roofs is you have to keep it dry to prevent the growth of algae and moss. This is also why you need to cut off any surrounding tree branches because these prevent the sun and the wind from keeping your thatched roof dry. Additionally, you have to install a lightning conductor on your thatched roof so it’ll avoid getting hit by lightning and consequently burning down. :) By the way, I think your home is so lovely, and it rightly belongs in your neighborhood of the rich and famous. - Aubrey Mullins
ReplyDeleteYou're in England living in a house like this? That sure is something to be jealous about!Your house sure fits the location, so I hope that you don't worry about that. I would love to own a unique house too. Something that would show my personality. I'm curious about how you're maintaining your thatched roof. Do you do some cleaning to keep it in good condition every month? Every quarter?
ReplyDeleteDavis Cassinelli