Thank you for your kind words of support after my last post, the adventure begins. It’s been a rollercoaster the last few weeks, but slowly we are settling in and making a dent in the huge list of tasks to turn Lakemoor into our dream home. It’s time for another update! So what have we been up to since our last post?

May Update

Here is a quick update on our time spent at Lakemoor so far. From mowing 5 acres of grass, to spotting huge snakes hidden in it!

The grass is finally under control

Ashley from A J Murch Ltd came and cut the grass. It took him 5 hours. The grass was really brown, but thankfully we have had some rain and it is starting to come through green. I will now need to mow it myself next week.

Our machinery returns

Murch Bros Engineering fixed and returned my petrol strimmer and ride on mower (now named Lottie). I use her every day as she has a really useful trailer, that helps me move equipment around. Gracie is her happiest when she is driving Lottie!

Created a kitchen garden

We cleared a very overgrown area by the back door and potted up some herbs and butterfly attracting flowers. I also ‘turned’ the compost heap, definitely not my favourite job so far. The vegetable patch is very overgrown. After managing to get the petrol stimmer going (haven’t managed it since), and cleared some of it.

Made time to bounce and boat

With the grass cut we were able to put the trampoline together. That was a challenge considering last time we put it together it took 3 adults. Gracie is surprisingly strong, and helped put the springs in too. While we had some down time, we took a little row around the lake with beautiful lilies.

Inside jobs

I put up some pictures in the house. It sounds a basic job, but Justin would normally do all this, so all new skills I am learning (or bodging! We will see what my Dad says when he visits). We have started dismantling the bespoke kids bed in the (what I call) 1/2 bedroom. Gracie is a dab hand with our new battery screwdriver!

What have we seen?

Now that the grass has been cut it is easier to explore Lakemoor. We can really discover what amazing wildlife we have here now.

Snakes

Two Grass Snakes are hidden under the carpet that is keeping the weeds under control ready for our ‘no dig’ vegetable garden. It will be a shame to disturb them when we get planting.

Shrews

This discovery was a bit of a shock when it ran across our lounge! Gracie managed to chase it into the porch, then caught it and played with it for a couple of hours.

Stoat

Whilst sitting outside having my breakfast, I had that feeling that I was being watched. A pretty little stoat was staring back at me. It darted off as soon as I saw it.

Toads and Bats

We have been really lucky with the weather. It has been nice to take a stroll down to the lake as the sun goes down. We see the bats flying around catching dinner. The toads we hear during the day are around and we also have a pair of ducks that come to the lake in the evening.

We can hear the owls in the evening too, but we haven’t seen them yet.

Tadpole update

Gracie bought a new tank for her tadpoles. One of them has now turned into a small frog, it has been interesting watching the transformation each day.

Thank you for taking the time to see what we have been up to. I have not had a chance to update Instagram yet, but please keep checking as I have an idea I hope you will like.