The Cowieswells Project: Tearing stuff down

Welcome

Cowieswells is a derelict farm south of Stonehaven in NE Scotland. We were lucky enough to acquire the place in August 2010 when we were moving back to the UK from Norway and looking for something to match or even better our previous, fjord-side home. The farm house and steading (barns) command an impressive and exposed cliff top location with fantastic views across the North Sea. The buildings were constructed from sandstone in a traditional style and our goal in rebuilding it is to be sympathetic to the original design whilst creating a much larger house which is modern, efficient and maximizes the unique views.

Since we bought the place we have spent over a year working with architects, planners and generally doing stuff that doesn't make for interesting reading. This blog picks up the renovation process in late 2011 when work outside got started. Over the coming months it will be updated every week or so with pictures, movies and the odd bit of text. Like Grand Designs but without the suave sarcasm of Kevin McCloud.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Tearing stuff down

As soon as the builders took the boards of the windows the place looked 10 times better. Since then they have been busy removing all the plaster, ripping out the festering bathroom and kitchen and generally tearing the place down. Seeing the place laid bear makes you think about the people who built it. The internal walls are "lath and plaster" which involves thousands of strips of 2cm wide strips of wood, each nailed to batons which are then covered in plaster. It must have taken ages to put up.

I would have liked to save some of the original features, such as the stair rails and the fireplaces but it was all gone before we got down there. We did manage to save an original mangle from the bothy in the attic which will save us having to buy a tumble drier.

Some pics showing the progress