It's a bit of a story...Are you sitting comfortably? I'll try to keep it short!
A few years ago, very suddenly Mr U-t-B became rather deaf. Well, a lot deaf actually. After a rather worrying time with brain scans and medical investigations, a diagnosis was made. Luckily there was nothing sinister going on, but the hearing in one ear had gone for good (dead nerve - no hearing aid can help if this is the case) and the tinitus in the other was likely to remain. Working in a job where good hearing is essential, Mr U-t-B then found himself having to take early retirement...
So he found himself with a lump sum that was only meant to be his when he was good and ready to spend it on rocking chairs, cosy zip-up slippers and the latest in zimmer frames.
Somehow he had to protect it - it could easily have disappeared into a new car and a nice holiday, or maybe a large stash of vintage fabrics and crafty items! But Mr U-t-B had his eyes on the future and decided he would invest in Bricks and Mortar, in a quiet and sunny spot where he would like to see out his days.
This turned out to be possible only by heading to France, and finding something built from a pile of odd stones and not-very-much-mortar-at-all, something that the cows had only recently vacated, with disdainful looks on their faces.
Mr U-t-B, always up for a DIY challenge, bought himself a barn!
Here it is as it was...
And here it is last summer, after several years of intermittent work, showing the place where those spindles are so very much needed...
We feel very lucky that something so exciting came out of something that was rather unfortunate. They do say every cloud has a silver lining and so it proved to be in this case!
