[vc_row][vc_column][postgallery_grid id=”grid_20170924″ data_source=”data-4″ null=”” slidesetid=”SS_G6_20170924″ content_type=”image” columns=”6″ height=”200px” align=”aligncenter” lightbox=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You may remember the barn, now with its new floor. We have put down palettes and ply and the next job was to clear the ‘mezzanine’. The barn is split in two with one side originally housing cattle with hay stored above them and the other where we have laid the new floor. There was a huge amount of hay and it all needed to come down as it was old and dusty and we had no idea what was underneath. Liz climbed up and started carefully shifting  the loose hay near the edge, she soon discovered that the floor wasn’t in very good condition, it was rather deceptive as it is old oak wide boards rather like very thick scaffold boards. Added to which there was even more hay than we’d realised, at the very back it was over a metre deep, and not in hay bales, it was all loose. This meant it would take much longer than we originally thought as we would need to take great care.

We had to get completely covered up and wore masks as there was so much dust, spores and seeds. Section by section Liz chucked the hay down and swept the floor, marking bad sections with fluorescent marker paint. Margie loaded the barrow and took it down to the compost heap. It was slow progress, and since the compost heap is at the other end of the west field it took Margie quite a time to shift the hay and the barrow didn’t hold that much We could tell it was old as it had obviously been hand cut and was extremely long, such a shame it would have been good originally but we suspected that some of it was over 60 years old, perhaps more. It had been untouched for so long that glis-glis (edible dormice) had made it their home in it, there were tunnels and nests and the inevitable detritus. The urine had rotted through the oak floor boards in some places and, despite being cautious, Liz put her foot through the floor three times. We had hoped to use the mezzanine to store some of our boxes, ones we wouldn’t need immediate access to, having seen the state of it we are never going back up there once it has been cleared.

On the second day Margie got another new toy and this helped tremendously. It was a quad, with a trailer and a harrow. We had ummed amd ahhed (gosh how do you spell that?) for a while about what to do, should we buy a tractor, a small van or something else. We needed something so we can take waste down to the local tip, we need to harrow the south field regularly and we are shifting lots of stuff which is either difficult or lengthy with a barrow. Margie thought a quad might be the most economic compromise and when we went to a local second-hand tractor dealer he also suggested this. So it was very opportune that it was delivered in time for us to finish the hay shifting. Margie was in her element!

We worked quite late that first day with the quad and managed to shift a lot of the hay. We finished and celebrated with a glass of the local red and watched a glorious sunset and then the moon rising over Grézels. It took 7 days in total including using Henry hoover to clear out all the remaining dust and seeds. Now we can erect the racking and get going on sorting out the contents of the house and all our boxes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][postgallery_grid id=”grid6_20170924_2″ data_source=”data-4″ null=”” slidesetid=”SS_G5_20170924_2″ content_type=”image” columns=”6″ height=”200px” align=”aligncenter” lightbox=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#deead0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Perhaps you would like to know…
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