The Cowieswells Project: Week 11 Things are about to get interesting

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.

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Week 11 Things are about to get interesting

I got back to Utah and headed straight to Cowieswells. The sun was shinning and the place was looking fantastic. When I got there the stone masons (Sid and Al) were busy making holes in the walls for windows and extensions. The following day I had a meeting on site with the architects and Ian (the foreman). All is going well, we are currently a bit behind schedule because of the crappy weather in April but they seem confident that they can make that up.
At the moment it doesn't seem like a lot has happened in the last few weeks, although there is a lot of unseen work in getting the foundations and the drainage in. We are on schedule to be "wind and water tight" by the end of June. That means all the extensions get built, roofs are put on, all the windows go in etc etc in the next 5 weeks. So things are about to get exciting.

I have been shooting timelapse for the last few weeks but there is not much to see. I think the next few weeks will be much more interesting, so watch this space.