Scraping off

Once the old cement mortar and first layer of earth is chipped and washed out of the walls the lime mortar is applied. By the next day it has set enough to be first scraped and then wire brushed back to a beautiful neat and almost lustrous finish.

These houses were built before roads as such existed and used materials from the fields around, stone and local earth where clay deposits of sticky ochre soil could be found. Wood came from the hills above - chestnut and pine. And floors were made of stone and cooked earth (terra cotta).

I don’t know about roofing material. Tiles - in various styles, Portuguese, Roman and Marseille and maybe stone before that although the local stone, though softish, does not split easily.

Meanwhile I dug a trench to follow the blocked kitchen waste pipe to its bitter end. It just ended underground. I fashioned a new soakaway of sorts and await advice on Monday.