Aberdyfi on a splendid afternoon

The pleasant novelty of living in the heart of stunning views has been somewhat tempered by a small dose of reality. All the downsides are becoming apparent - such as not being able to find builders to get started on the work we need to do...

..and the decisions that have to be made on the type of heating to put in. Every day we delay, the nearer the winter gets. Green alternatives have now been virtually discounted since the "cottage" is a bit bigger than we realised having measured it for the purposes of sizing a boiler. The lovely feature stone walls have a huge thermal mass but and virtually zero insulating properties - brilliant if we get global warming but shit if we continue to get winters. Green heating like Ground or Air heat recovery pumps will not be man enough for the job and a wood burner would require a wood-store the size of an airship hanger. So it looks like it's LPG or Oil. All we have to do is find an installer.

Becoming an expert on the thermal mass of slate walls and the regulations on bunded oil-tanks was not quite the idea of the rural idyll we had in mind so we popped to the beach to reconnect with the dream that bought us here in the first place. The sun was shining and the beach was magical.

When we got back, the strimmer started straight out of the box and then the chainsaw made short work of the logs in the log-store. In the evening I gazed at the brightest stars in the blackest night sky I have ever experienced.

All was well again.