We’re now in the final few weeks of the London house as the October winds blow. We sit listening to the rain and wind blustering through the branches of the crab apple trees that flank the house, commenting ruefully to each other that this is an early trial for the Skye weather.
We’re making lists of what will be packed for storage and what will be needed in the caravan for the duration of the build.
I’m anticipating a cold, wet Highland winter in the caravan and days of hard physical work, something unfamiliar to our soft urban bodies. Not to mention my still recovering replacement bionic knees.
We’re going to ache and I’m sure that exhaustion will hit pretty quickly. Husband will bear the brunt of this as there are things that he can do that I simply can’t, so one of my small contributions will be keeping us fed. Food will be important for both fuelling tired muscles and keeping morale going.
I’m packing my slow cooker so that I can make soups and stews first thing in the morning to come into at the end of the day without too much effort. It’s comforting to come home to the warmth and smell of a lamb hotpot permeating the caravan when you’re tired, cold and wet. We should be able to raise a spoon and some chunks of bread if we have energy for nothing else!
The kitchen in the caravan is also pretty small so I’m trying to condense down what to pack to the most essential items only. Kettle, oven dishes, plates, cutlery, a few good knives etc. I suspect that our food will be basic until we are in the house, and eaten off laps, but that’s fine by us.
Forget the wild fantasies of feasting off venison and salmon in the Highlands – this is going to be lots of simple cooking designed to fill us up and keep us warm. Soups, porridge, stews and dumplings. Hearty fare, albeit with fresh local produce.
Whilst I’m looking at supplies, husband is restocking essential tools for the build. He got rid of a lot of tools when he moved from the North of England, thinking that they’d no longer be needed in London (and having no storage space for them).
Our living room here is gradually filling up with reciprocating saws, drill bits, power screwdrivers, steel capped boots and work trousers.
I hug myself in anticipation. Not long now until we pack up the car with our ancient spaniel and start the long, slow drive up to the island.
It’s all becoming very real… 👍☺️
Preparations for winter
We’re preparing the static for the end of October as best we can whilst still being several hundred miles away.
It’s on the croft and tonne bags of hardcore have been moved into place this week to provide it with a bit more anchor weight. Kind neighbours have strapped the hardcore bags to the static with high strength lorry straps for us.
We’ve been warned that there are often ninety mph winds that blow in the winter, and that the weight of the caravan alone won’t be enough for safety.
We hope that the combination of these tethered weights, an emplacement of strategically placed sandbags to funnel the prevailing south westerlies, and the protection afforded by the house will be enough to protect it from the worst of the winter gales.
We also need to level and secure the static more effectively, and for this we are going to use railway sleepers which we will have delivered to site over the next couple of weeks. We’ll use them to construct steps up to the caravan door as well so that our lovely but ancient spaniel (and equally ancient and rickety croft wifie) can make it in and out more easily 😊.
We’re also buying paint, brushes and supplies this week so that the first few days after arrival will see it cleaned and freshened up inside ready for occupation. Gas bottles and connections to water and electricity will also have to happen before we can move in.
It’s going to be a very busy October and November. 🙂
Static Adventures
We had a busy three days on the island checking the progress on site, talking to the builders, getting the static caravan in place and meeting a few neighbours in a socially distanced manner. It was good.
We came home tired but happy.
The caravan arrived on Tuesday. Watching from the top of the croft I could see that the lorry transporting it had got part the way up the steep access road, but was losing traction on the hardcore surface of the track. It tried a few times, but rolled back in each instance. My heart sank for a few moments thinking that all our plans would come to nothing.
Luckily for us there was still a digger on the croft, and one of our enterprising builders used a tow rope to connect it to the front of the lorry and reversing, dragged it up the hill over the steep part of the track. Relief was not the word!
With help from a kind neighbour Donnie and his tractor, the static was manoevered into place behind the house, where we hoped it would benefit from some shelter from the prevailing South Westerlies.
It’s really exposed to the elements at the top of the croft there. There was a stiff 40km per hour breeze blowing on the day that we moved it, so we could guess what it would feel like in the more typical winter gales of 70-90km per hour….
Four one tonne bags of hardcore are being delivered to site today and friends have kindly arranged to strap the caravan down to them with lorry straps to anchor it until we get to site again at the end of October.
It needs proper stabilising on a base, some steps, a lick of paint, some small internal repairs and a good airing, but those things will have to wait until we’re there permanently now. Soon.
The builders have done a good job, and we were really pleased with the quality of the work. The cladding looks great and should be finished in the next week. The roof slating completed yesterday.
A few more weeks and the external elements of the build will be complete ready to hand over to us for the rest.
Curbing instincts
Knowing that we’ll soon be moving into the static, which has a tiny kitchen with very little storage space, means that I’m having to curb my tendency to stash food for emergencies such as the next zombie invasion or pandemic.
The current Covid-19 situation has only reinforced what I recognise is deep-set behaviour to store for bad times.
Every time I see a 10kg sack of basmati rice or puy lentils on sale I have to physically restrain myself from buying them. The instinct to stock up is strong, but there’s no logic in more dried goods sitting in storage with the furniture for six months whilst we complete the build.
There simply isn’t anywhere to put them.
I grit my teeth and tell myself that there will be the chance to fully stack that pantry once it’s built and ready to take supplies. And not a moment sooner.
I think I’m on the spectrum somewhere (aren’t we all in some way, I guess?) but it gives me great satisfaction to list what the pantry will eventually hold. I haven’t confessed to husband yet, but I’ve got LISTS of proposed purchases.
I’ve been looking at labelling systems, storage jars and boxes, and what shelving we’ll need…😂
It maybe the smallest room in the house, but I’m planning to make every inch of the storage work, and I can’t wait to add homemade jams, pickles and cordials to the stash next summer to see us through those long, dark, wet Scottish winters.
More progress, and the static
The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze us. We’ve been offered a free static caravan by locals on the island to live in whilst we complete the build.
It’s old but fully functioning. It will need a lick of paint, a new boiler and replacement carpet in the main living area, but with all of that and transport costs it will still save us many thousands of pounds.
I’d been researching static caravans and not only are they pricey but the haulage costs can be massive. Due to their ten or twelve feet of width they need a police traffic escort, and so even bargains elsewhere in the U.K. would cost many thousands to transport to the island.
(This image was taken before two years of mud from their house build site was trodden in..😊 it looks much worse now…)
The couple that have offered it to us have been living in it themselves until recently as they completed their own self build, and can make it available from September, which is perfect timing for us. We’re so grateful.
We will be siting it close to the house itself so that connection to power and water will be easier.
The foundations are progressing at pace now, helped by the recent good weather.
This does mean that it will be perched in a somewhat exposed position on the top of the hill of the croft, and a local friend suggested that tethering the static to concrete footings with lorry straps might be prudent due to the winter gales on Skye. We’ve asked the builders to create tether points for us in the hard standing at the back of the house site so that we can do just that.
We don’t fancy tumbling down the hill like a corrugated tin dustball in a storm…
Ravencroft Skye 