The Cowieswells Project: Week 4 and the foundations are poured

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.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

Week 4 and the foundations are poured

The weather was fairly bad at the start of the week, snow all around Aberdeen and Stonehaven but not actually at Cowieswells. I was down there on Tuesday clearing up and burning all the scrub that was left over from taking down the trees. There was also a load of tyres and scarp metal that we wanted to dispose off with the rest of the stuff from the house, so it had to be done. Also wanted to salvage a load of the fieldstones that had been unearthed. This will be used to building a wall in the steading courtyard and perhaps in the garden.

The guys were back in on Thursday and Friday and they put the foundations in and finished tidying up. So now we can get a really good idea of what the floor layout will be like.