Life, self-build and much mud on the Isle of Skye
When the sun rises and you wake up to your bedroom windows all covered in these exquisite ice ferns.
I’ve never seen such a beautiful natural phenomenon.
As the sun rose these gradually melted and disappeared, leaving a bright, cold blue snowy day.
What a truly remarkable start to the day.
It snowed again overnight. We awoke to brilliant white, and the strange, blanketing silence that a covering of snow brings to the world.
Silence that is, apart from the raven, who called loudly from the old pine as the sun came up.
Husband managed to get out to insulate the water pipes yesterday, just in the nick of time. We had running water this morning for coffee, despite the overnight temperatures.
We’re cracking on with the interior wall foiling now, fuelled by hot coffee and egg butties.
Even though the house is a shell without insulated flooring or plasterboard yet, the solar gain from the big, south facing windows, coupled with a small 3kw heater is maintaining a temperature of about 13 degrees centigrade.
Which considering the temperature outside, and the volume of air to heat in this 200m2 space, is pretty good.
We think that this bodes well for when the house is fully insulated and sealed. It should be very energy efficient and cheap to heat.
Just what we need.
The snow may have stopped falling for now but it’s still cold and very icy out there.
The barrel containing my berry cuttings has frozen with a thick disc of ice.
The steep access track and drive have become an icy slope, and the pools of water on the gravel are solid ice.
I’m not going out until the sun has melted everything a little, but will sit here by the fire and try and stay warm here in the caravan.
I think it’s safe to say that we’re now properly into winter..
Ravencroft Skye 