Hay is being cut today. Although it is not very high quality and flattened by the travellers, three farmers wanted it. Dry summer means there's a shortage of animal feed, not to speak of high prices for wheat because of wild fires in Russia and lack of rain in Canada. Fields looking good now.
Starting to put in all the orders for fitting out the barn. Had my card frozen because my spending pattern was consistent with fraud so the bank tells me. Although their calculations on the mortgage are totally off-whack so accounts are all in a mess.

It's beginning to look like a house rather than a shed. Real progress made, plastering fantastic, loads of insulation so should be warm. Cutting down logs for the woodburner, but that's not been delivered yet - seems to have disappeared. Drains mystery continues - some were filled with concrete, maybe by disgruntled, unpaid, former builders. Finally tracked the connection to a manhole in the driveway two doors down. Looks like this can be "sleeved" putting a liner in - made in Germany so high quality. Let's hope this is not storing up problems for the future, but everyone seems to think it will be OK.
It's groundhog day on the second barn, starting to look at doing that now. Hope to move into the first barn by the end of October - can't wait, the rented house is a bit cramped and everything still in boxes.

Now living on the set of Desperate Housewives, all twitching curtains and lawn mowing. Seems a bit quiet and out of the way as well as cramped. Need to get to the farm before I go completely bonkers.
All planning permission now approved on the barns but with a list of conditions as long as your arm, some of which are so detailed. You wonder whether planners just want to keep making work for architects and professional advisers in one extended bureaucratic circle.
I can see why the owners of the Milton Keynes shopping centre resisted it being listed for 10 years.

Windows are in and looking fantastic. No more leaky draughty sashes like we've got now. We should be warm too with the amount of insulation going in - cracking on and builders now working flat out.
The woodburning stove turned up today....a month too soon. They had the wrong date in the diary and didn't even have the farm address!
In the meantime, we are moving to a rented house. Surrounded by boxes and packing which is soul destroying. Teenagers no help at all - just an excuse to make more of a mess.

Electricity cable connected today, but no power yet as the meter man came yesterday and wouldn't put the meter in until the cable was connected. I'm sure that EDF told me it was the other way round. Have now made another appointment for the meter man.
Still slow progress with the builders. Their previous client is proving very demanding and keeps changing things that have been finished and delaying most of them from coming to us. I don't have many demands - just that they get on with it!
The guy in the caravan is in a ridiculous squabble with the roofers over them scratching his chair. Trying to get me to intervene as if I'm their (or his) mother. He is spiritual (apparently) so needs special treatment.
More details to be changed on the drains. The latest price for connecting to the sewer is £26,000 and rising. Maybe we could do without a kitchen altogether.

More bizarre demands from the planners. They don't want the roof lights on the big barn to be symmetrical because farm buildings aren't symmetrical! They also want granite sets leading in to the field entrance - this goes straight onto farmland so seems a bit over the top. They say they don't want to make farms look suburban and then demand something like that. They seem to like spending other peoples' money and making changes for the sake of it.
Picked up more rubbish from the fields including a milk crate, frying pan and a pair of Ugg boots.
Maybe we really are bonkers. Was interviewed by a woman from the local paper who clearly seemed to think so.

Interesting debate about travellers:
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Gypsies-cause-chaos-towns/article-2287024-detail/article.html