Life settles into a pattern....

So once moved into Sandside, life started to settle into a pattern. There was still work to be done to the house, but the bulk of the building work was finished in May 2002. The builders had done a great job. They had challenges too - not least their clients ;-)  And of course getting materials here which meant liaising with suppliers to get deliveries to the boat on cargo days, getting Arthur with the tractor and trailer to bring it all up to the house. And ensuring they had all they needed for the day - no popping back to the workshop if they'd forgotten something!

There were still areas of the house to be developed, a workshop at the end of the conservatory building, and the old post office which was to be a TV room.  However, as I mentioned earlier, J. decided Graemsay wasn't for him and so I took over the house myself. The house is big enough for me with various spare rooms etc so for now I've left these to be done at a later day.

My favourite rooms are the sitting room in Winter, with the curtains drawn, snuggled down on the sofa with Button; and the conservatory, the "summer" sitting room which looks out across the water to Stromness, where I can watch the sun set, and the hens pottering around. The conservatory was one of J.'s inspired ideas and it works well. A panoramic view from the Orphir hills to Warbeth.

I take most of my photos of summer sunsets from outside that door!






Like this one...

And of course....this.... see what I mean about a panoramic view??  The building on the left is the conservatory.

The field behind the house is used for summer grazing by Arthur. I'd intended bringing my pony, Badger, up from Kent. But he was already 30 when I left and after he developed some health issues I decided he would be happier spending his last few months in the comfort of familiar surroundings, looked after by A. and F and spoilt and petted by everyone. I still feel guilty - but he would have hated the field with no trees to shelter from the wind. There would have been nothing between him and Canada!  I think he would have been sharing the conservatory with me fairly quickly.

Dear Fitzi-cat enjoyed sleeping in the sunny spots around the house until he passed away in August 2008. He'd always been a "house-cat".  I'd had visions of him enjoying the great outdoors, but after he'd been beaten up by the local farm cats a couple of times, we both decided he was better remaining as a house cat! Though he did come outside and enjoy the sun and laying in the long grass in the summer months.

And I got HENS!  I'd wanted chickens for I don't know how long. And finally I could keep a few hens. Cathy & Arthur from Fillets did up an old stone building which is on their land and have let me use it as a henny hoose. There are no predators on the island like foxes so the hens can be completely free range - and they are! A bit of a hazard as you are driving past the house I think sometimes!

I continued to work for the local Council for a few years, but gradually, having been able to build up more work as a health researcher working from home, I was eventually able to give the council job up and work entirely from home. Thank goodness for a good fast internet connection! I'll not tell you the speed because it's faster than most of Orkney gets!

I love living here. I know I made the right decision to move all those years ago. There have been challenges along the way and things didn't quite turn out as I expected. I hadn't planned to be living here on my own. I had hoped to be mortgage free and just need to work to pay the bills, which when J. pulled out meant I had to make some changes and needed to work more rather than less. But in many ways The Dream turned out BETTER than I had expected, as well as different.

Folk have said I was brave to do this. But it didn't feel like that. I'm not really a brave person, really I'm not. But I wanted an adventure. I'd wanted to leave the crowded and busy South-East of England for as long as I could remember. OK I'd lived in the same town all my life for over 40 years, but I was open to adventure. I was determined to make things work out and to enjoy the process, be present to "the moment", as they say.

I now have a lovely home, in a stunning location, and feel part of a community. I can honestly say I am happy. And of course I now share my home with Button! Who despite thinking she is a Princess, is in fact a rufty tufty Orkney cat, a hunter of mice, and a wanderer on the shore!

And when people say they want to move to Orkney and ask for advice - I tell them to rent somewhere for a year and experience a winter FIRST! Tee hee!!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my "journey". Normal service will be resumed shortly ;-)  And I'm also planning some posts about the history of the house which might interest folk.

Another episode, another move....

So after spending six months in Longhope on Hoy, it was time for another move. The holiday cottage was being sold to folk on the island. There was no rush for me to move out, but as I had just got a job in Kirkwall   I was keen to move off the island. The commute of getting the ferry from Longhope at 7.15 am and not getting home till 7pm was way too reminiscent of my life south to be comfortable.

It was July (2001) and summer is not a particularly good time to be looking for rented accommodation for a few months in Orkney as it's the tourist season. Most folk with spare property will be doing holiday lets, while others will want longer term tenants.  Anyway I was fortunate to find a property just outside Stromness, it even had a view of the house on Graemsay from a tiny window at the back! All my furniture from "south" had been transported over to Hoy, so now it was packed up again and brought over to Stromness. The property was rented furnished but there was a large room where I could store the all my possessions so that was good.

My commute to work now took me through some lovely countryside and along the coast, no traffic jams (no traffic lights!) - a far cry from much of my former commuting life.  I also went along to some archaeology history classes to learn more about the land I now called home, and began making new friends and socialising a bit more.

Meanwhile the builders continued to work on the house. The deadline which they had set was December 2001. So we all worked towards that. The builders were confident they could be ready.... you know what's coming don't you..... I'd handed in my notice on the rented property......organised a removal firm (again), packed up (again).... then Arthur Ritch phoned from Graemsay. He'd been popping in to chat to the builders and see how things were going.  He wasn't convinced they would have the house ready. But with nowhere else for me to go, the move had to go ahead....

So it was on a very wet windy day the removal firm, McAdie & Reeve, loaded two large containers and several pallets (thankfully wrapped in plastic) onto the deck of the MV Graemsay to take me home... I was rather alarmed to be sharing the voyage with my new bathroom which was also on the deck!  An indication of things to come..... Arthur was at the pier with tractors and trailers to take everything up to the house. Two removal men had come over too.  Everything was winched off the MV Graemsay onto the trailers and carried up to the house, in the same way that all the building materials for the house had arrived. Anything you want delivered to the island comes this way!

I went and opened the front door to be greeted by an array of builders, joiners and decorators.... not one room finished....  I threw a wee hissy fit.... I think I may have said some sweary words too ;-)  Anyway within the hour a room was made ready and all the furniture and boxes could be piled in there by neighbours and the removal men.

 Meanwhile the bathroom was being plumbed in and I was assured that the water would be running later that day so the heating could be put on.  Um... did I mention this was December?  The kitchen was nearly complete but had no sink, fortunately there was one in the utility room (read "porch").  The cooker worked so that was something.

The builders ensured that by the end of the day I had some heating, a toilet that worked, hot water and a bath that I could use as long as I didn't jump about in it (those were the words of the plumber!).

Poor Fitzi-cat was completely traumatised and hid under the duvet which was on the bed - the only bit of furniture to make it upstairs that day. Slowly over the next few days I got furniture arranged and unpacked. The kitchen and bathroom got finished and the decorating continued.

 I was "home" at last. There was still a lot of work to be done on the extension, which we knew wouldn't be complete by December. That was fine as it was a separate part of the house. This was going to contain a couple of guest rooms with shower room, a workshop, and the conservatory. THIS was the bit that caused all the problems with Historic Scotland.

Stone masons had done a good job of matching the stone to raise the roof of what had once been byres, wash house and dairy.

And the underfloor heating was still to be completed in the extension too. Hot water run through pipes heated by an oil fired boiler (furnace).

The extension roof to be completed using Welsh slate from Penrhyn - not very good in terms of eco miles but I was pleased that part of my Welsh heritage was also part of my home!

And the exterior walls were to be "pick and pointed" - that meant that the harling (rendering) had to be taken off to reveal the stone underneath and then pointing placed between the stones. You can see in this photo that it's been partway completed.

It was painstaking work that took months to complete by skilled masons. But slowly I felt as if the house was beginning to breathe again...

Meanwhile...December... Christmas!! It was my first Christmas in the house. Fitzi-cat and I celebrated in style. J.  was working away again (I think, anyway he couldn't get to Orkney for Christmas). We had snow AGAIN!

I was still living out of boxes, no carpets on the floors or curtains at the window, but finally I could feel at home.  And the sitting room was finally without boxes!!

And on Hogmanay I had a party so folk on the island could have a chance to see the house and to echo the tradition that the last residents of the house had maintained - Hogmanay at Sandside.

The story to be continued..... with further challenges and with fun stuff about hens, and the house now.......

Continuing saga - Interior renovations....

So continuing the story.... above is what is now my bedroom.  It was one of those "Oh my gawd" moments! I've never been involved in a renovation before so I was often found hyperventilating over the destruction to the old house.  J. had worked on properties before so was quite calm about it all, and the builders just looked at me as if I was a crazy woman (don't snigger, it's not attractive...).

This is the back of the house, upstairs. I'm actually typing this post from the spot where the photo was taken. It's now my study. The space that looks like a corridor is now my bathroom and beyond is another bedroom.

There were fireplaces in all the rooms and small cupboards to the side.  Much as fireplaces look attractive in a room, they also take up wall space and are draughty if you don't use them! As we planned on installing modern central heating we decided they would be blocked up.  We had wanted to keep the small cupboards to the side, but with modern insulation and then the wooden frame for the plasterboard, there wasn't much of a cupboard left. So the recesses are now sadly behind the plasterboard.

Once the upstairs was cleared the space looked amazing. Rather like a loft conversion! (Now for those of you that know the house, the window in the picture is facing onto the road at the front of the house).

You can see above two different wall colours. At the front of the house (the lovely rich stone colour) had been lathe and plastered, while at the back of the house (on the left of the picture) the walls had been plastered directly onto the stone. Here's some of the lathe and plaster before removal.

 The staircase in the photo above was installed c1910 and is directly in front of what would have been the upstairs door leading to the external staircase. I love the massive stone over the fireplace in the corner! Imagine when this was built in1860 all this would be done by hand, with manual labour. Not easy getting a large stone like that onto the first floor. This would have made a lovely "loft style" conversion, but not really practical as we needed to get several rooms into this space!

Here is the same side of the house, with this window looking over the back of the house towards the lighthouse. (Did I mention I live next door to a lighthouse?).  This is the framework going up for the plasterboard and insulation. The fireplaces were blocked off and vented to prevent damp.

Meanwhile downstairs.... cue more hyperventilating. More destruction. I had some friends from the USA visiting at this time. I brought them over to the island to see the house. They were very quiet in here!! Just the odd "Oh my!" could be heard ;-)

The front sitting room had looked like this before the builders got to work. They'd used this room when they were re-roofing and putting in windows. They lit the fire each day they were working and had their "piece-break" (Orcadian term for refreshment breaks) here.

But despite my fears - the house gradually re-emerged.

Pipes were installed

The mechanics of the underfloor heating were installed....

And walls were insulated, plasterboard attached to framing, and "taped and filled" to make a smooth surface.

And facings put around the "edges"....

During this time J. was either still abroad or South so there were lots of photos being emailed re progress and discussions over questions raised by the builders.  I had also had to move out of the house on Hoy, which coincided with my starting my job at the Council. The only time I could visit was at weekends, and then usually just for the day as the builders had been given the caravan to use as a "site office" and "rest room". So it was quite a challenging time.  Though I had dear Fitzi-cat to help with the inspection - this are the glass blocks for the ensuite.

So more tomorrow on moving house (again) this time to Stromness, and moving IN.... amid the continuing renovations.....

Another instalment....

So there I was in the Winter of 2001 at the eastern end of the island of Hoy, just outside the village of Longhope.  I remember a lot of snow which made travelling anywhere "interesting". I did get cut off for a few days but I'd already learned to stock up on supplies of food and heating oil. So I was quite cosy. It was my first winter in Orkney. I was learning about the constant wind...and the long dark nights. With the light fading by 3pm, and not rising till 9am there was a lot of dark about! I'd lie in bed counting lighthouses - I think I could count six, with several being on Mainland Scotland. I had a stunning view of the Pentland Firth, but I prefer my view from Sandside - there is always something happening with a variety of boats passing Graemsay.  On the Pentland Firth I mostly watched the Scrabster to Stromness boat (then the St Ola) sailing past in the distance.

I felt quite "low" that winter. I was getting used to an Orkney winter, not working and trying not to spend money from savings, as any £1 spent was £1 less for the house. I was job hunting locally to supplement my income, without much success.  It is a delicate balance in a community such as Orkney, indeed in any rural community.  "Incomers" can affect the availability of work and housing. I was sensitive to this as my father's family are from Wales and in the 1960's and 70s the Welsh Nationalists were very anti those buying up property dirt cheap for holiday cottages. But I felt that we were also putting something into the local economy, what with the house purchase, using local builders and largely local supplies for the house, and of course buying locally for food and other services.  I had been self-employed for many years doing a variety of things from consultancy work, to training, and business research and felt I had a variety of "tranferable skills" and was really looking for a local job for a while.

Job hunting was the fairly depressing process it often is and so I remained out of work for a few months.  It did give me time to get on with the battles with Historic Scotland (a department of the Scottish government charged with looking after "historic buildings") over the plans for the house. J. was working overseas at the time so it was down to me to attend meetings and deal with officials. Our local surveyor and agent, Stevie Omand, was brilliant at helping me navigate the mysteries of the system.  The challenge was that the house was "listed" as being of architectural "merit" - it was originally built around 1860 as two "flats" with an external staircase.

Sadly the staircase was demolished around 1912 when the house was then converted from two "homes" into one. This is a photo of the house just after it was converted. (Not sure why the Shetland Museum had a copy but they did!).

There is a whole other story about Sandside itself which I plan to tell later. The Sutherland family were tenant farmers here for many years and their lives and Sandside's are intertwined for generations.  This is a photo of Henry Sutherland and his family, and somehow they all fitted into Sandside which actually isn't THAT big!

Now the house, walled garden and the small building used as a post office were "listed" by Historic Scotland, which meant we were restricted on what we could do with them. No money to HELP but just restricted.  Historic Scotland (well the architect from Edinburgh) didn't like our plans for the extension which was crucial if we were to run some sort of business from the house. OUR plans were to build the extension, adding onto what were the old dairy and cowsheds and have it all in keeping with the remainder of the house. Now, such are the ways of conservation architecture - we could knock down the outbuildings and put up a modern structure in glass and metal if we wanted, do anything it seemed EXCEPT have something "in keeping"! We LIKED these outbuildings and wanted to keep them......

The local planning committee at the Council had passed our plans. They were delighted that an old uninhabited house on one of the isles was going to be a home again. They saw NO problem with our plans!!  Historic Scotland (I renamed them Hysterical Scotland) on the other hand were being difficult.  After several meetings between Stevie Omand, myself and the Historic Scotland architect we did eventually reach agreement. It came out of the blue which was lovely but I'd been pretty stressed out with it all and couldn't really believe we'd been given the go-ahead!! So finally we could get the builders back in!!

About this time I finally got a job in Kirkwall at the local authority (local "council"). It was meant to be a temporary job but went on for over four years!  (I left in 2005 to work full time from home as a health researcher for the Medical Research Council in Glasgow. So then I could feel happier because I wasn't taking a job from someone local. And my income would be from outside Orkney but spent in Orkney so I really was contributing to the local economy again.) Though I have to say even now folk often still think I work at "the Council"!

During the difficult winter of 2001 I was buoyed up by support from the folk on Graemsay who would invite me into their homes whenever I was on the island and meet up in Kirkwall etc.  And the folk on Hoy who befriended me and showed me around. And in my mind I held onto my first image of Graemsay - the one at the top of this post taken on our first visit to the island as we were leaving. That was the dream and it WOULD come true, but it would just take time, perseverance and patience. Um.... did I tell you I'm not very good at being patient?? "Why wait?" is my motto!

In the next post I'll tell you a little about the renovation of the interior of the house.

The next stage of the story....

So there we were, in 1999, at the dawn of the new millennium with a house we couldn't live in, in a land I knew nothing about!  I wasn't able to visit the island again until the December. J. and I decided to spend Christmas and New Year (the Millennium New Year) on the island in rented accommodation down at the lighthouse.  It was lovely to walk around Sandside and imagine living in it and what we would do with the spaces etc. Folk on the island were very welcoming and we were getting to know all our neighbours at the many Christmas parties on the island. But it was also a VERY cold Christmas and New Year with snow thick on the ground (unusual for Orkney). We were undaunted and set about getting plans drawn up for the renovations.......

The first phase was to make the house wind and watertight, which meant taking the entire roof off, taking back part of the chimney on one side, and replacing all the "couples" (the wooden beams that hold up the roof slates), then getting the Caithness stone slates back on as well as replacing the external doors and windows.  At the end of this phase the house looked like this.

But first it went through this...... and yes that was scary! I was convinced the two chimneys would fall in and the entire house collapse. (Did I mention I was a drama queen? Hee Hee).

Meanwhile I was living in a caravan in the old walled garden next to the house. I'd moved up to the island in the June of 2000, having rented out my flat in Kent. I was keeping my options open - if things didn't work out I still had my flat to go back to.

That summer was magical. The weather was warm - I even wore SHORTS! The days were long. I can remember the joy of lying in bed at night and hearing the curlews, lapwings and oyster-catchers calling and the waves on the shore just yards from my bed.  The haunting sound of the seals was new to me - I got up one night, dressed and followed the noise as at first I thought it was a dog stuck somewhere!  Then I realised it was the seals along the shore calling. I can understand how sailors would have mistaken them for mermaids, and the legend of the Selkie grew up. Their call is ethereal and beautiful. For the first time in years I felt an inner calm.

I had the first of my friends visiting and got to know much of the Orkney Mainland. All the tourist sights and some of the quieter places too. Like Rackwick on Hoy, a beautiful wild place.

Cathy Ritch, from Fillets, also tethered her "hand-milker" cow in the garden as "Tiger Lily", as I called her ( she had black stripes on her hide), was needing some lush grass prior to calving.  Tiger Lily was very docile and I would stand in the evening sun scratching her head and neck.

One day I looked out the window and realised that in a heavy rainshower Tiger Lily was starting to calve. Now, years ago I used to work in a farming community, working for an auctioneers at a livestock market in Kent. So I knew a tiny bit about farm animals. I wasn't a complete "townie".  So I phoned the farm, Cathy was away so I told Arthur.  In the meantime the cow calved quite happily.  Arthur arrived with a trailer too late to take her "home" to calve.  I asked him what had taken him so long - I'd stood there in the rain fretting the calf was getting cold!!  He said I hadn't *quite* explained that the calf was calving NOW. Personally I think he didn't believe a townie could tell when a cow was calving ;-)

This all sounds quite idyllic, and it was. But in the background there was my concern about keeping working (I'd brought some work with me, but it wouldn't sustain me for long) and also quite how long I could live in the caravan into the winter.  The answer to the latter came in the mid-winter when there were warnings of storm force winds.... Arthur put silage bales around the caravan to protect it (the garden walls gave some protection), and neighbours said I could go and stay with them if necessary.  I thought I could brazen it out, but as crockery fell off the shelves and the walls of the caravan flexed, my then cat, Fitzi and I huddled under the duvet.  I decided I couldn't deal with that for the entire night so with the cat under one arm, his litter tray in a bag, and torch clutched firmly we set off to Fillets for the respite of the spare room.  I think they were a little startled to see me arrive with the cat!!  Well I couldn't leave poor town-bred Fitzi-cat in the caravan on his own!  We were both very glad of solid walls that night!

Fortunately a friend from South had a holiday cottage on the island of Hoy that was empty for the winter. So Fitzi-cat and I decamped there for a few months. The only proviso was I had to foster another cat. I think her proper name was Vodka (don't ask), but I called her Mischief or Baggins, because she was. Poor Fitzi had a horrible 6 months, with Baggins hiding behind doors, or ambushing him from the sofa. They did not get on.

The view from this cottage was wonderful, but we had yet another deep snowy winter. That's when I first met John & Leslye Budge (the musicians who come and play at our harvest home party). John came with his tractor to dig me out as there were large drifts in the driveway.

The snow was well up over the cat....

At the weekend I'd come back to Graemsay with Fitzi who was doing his best to be as adventurous as a former house-cat could be.  You can imagine my alarm when I saw him on the roof of the outbuildings!!  And yes of course he slid off....sigh... fortunately onto very soft mossy grass.  He wasn't the brightest of cats but was a gentle giant and I loved him dearly.

There was a brief hiatus in the work on the interior of the building as the builder firm was busy and couldn't start for a few months.  Meanwhile I knew I had to sell my flat south in order for me to finance the next phase. That winter was a scary one for me. I was finally cutting all ties with my life south. Yes I was really excited about my new life on Graemsay, but currently had no house to live in and no permanent work.  I couldn't imagine going back to live "south" - everything pulled me to Graemsay. I just had to find a way to make it all work....... (there, I'll leave a cliff-hanger like any good novel!! Hee hee!! More soon).

May 1999....

May 1999.....oooh somehow it seems ages ago and sometimes it's just like yesterday. But that was when I first came to Orkney and saw Graemsay and Sandside!  A friend and I were looking for a home away from the rat race of the South East of England, where we could perhaps build a business to pay living expenses.

That's why one day in May 1999 we headed for one of the London airports on our journey North.  A work colleague had bought a property on the neighbouring island of Hoy. We'd seen the house details for Sandside among a pile he'd discarded.  We were in Orkney just for the weekend, staying in Stromness and visiting a number of properties on the Orkney Mainland.  I was struggling with the idea of living on an island and frankly Orkney Mainland was just about as small as I thought I could manage.

We visited smart modern new houses, some with a small business attached. We visited complete ruins with land but no services (water, electricity).  Nothing really grabbed us.  Our criteria were fairly broad - it had to be a property with "potential" to extend, develop, run a business from. I wanted to be able to walk easily to the sea-shore (well no point in living so close to the sea if I couldn't do THAT!). And away from any busy roads (yes there are some even in Orkney).

The weather was glorious that weekend. The sun shone, the sea was turquoise. Not a breath of wind. Orkney looked stunning, wearing her best Spring clothes.  Still I was uncertain. I fancied an "adventure" but did I really want an ISLAND adventure?

On our final day we had booked an appointment to visit Graemsay and see Sandside. The wee Graemsay ferry took us first to Hoy and then to Graemsay.  Blimey - it's a wee island!!  I'd said to myself, in a slightly fey way, if I see a seal I'll now this is "meant to be".  Not a single one did we see.... in fact I hadn't seen one all weekend.....

Our first view of Sandside made my heart sink.... it hadn't been lived in for 15 years and the windows had holes in where the pigeons had flown through, and there was a board along to roof to stop the slates falling down and harming anyone. (The post office was still run out of a small building to the side of the house - see the red door?).

We wandered around inside and I just couldn't visualise it as a home. J. was much better at that, coming up with ideas and plans.  I was still a bit unenthusiastic - if you ripped out the inside of a house, did it still retain it's heart?  We stood outside in the sunshine with Arthur Ritch (who was selling the property) and talked about practicalities - how often did the ferry run, what was it like in winter.... (Um.... did I mention this was my FIRST visit to Orkney?).  I remember cutting through the conversation, like a bored child, and asking him "Are there any seals round here?"  He smiled and nodded to the beach "Ah you mean those things?" and there along the shore were seals, just a few dozen yards from the house on the sandy beach. I don't think I stopped smiling for the rest of the visit.

We went up to Arthur's farm, Fillets, and met his wife Cathy. Over tea and homebakes we chatted about animals, gardening, Graemsay and all sorts. All too soon it was time to head to the ferry, so Arthur gave us a quick tour of the island - well no tour of the island takes long! By the time we were getting on the ferry we had "bought" the house with a handshake.  Obviously legally there was a bit more to it than that, but we'd bought the house and the field behind it. A field which leads down to a BEACH!

On the flight home I knew I'd made a good decision.... it would be an adventure but also the right thing to do.  Sadly for J. he decided his heart was not in Orkney and has remained in London. So now Sandside is all mine and each morning I wake up with this view (um....Button has to get in every photo!).

And the house now looks a little more respectable!! I'll tell you more about the story of Sandside in another post shortly!