The kitchen should have been ready by November 8. It is not yet finished. But, as of a couple of days ago, it became usable and last night we cooked a meal on and in the Aga for the first time and then The work unit with the Belfast sink should be completed January 20 by when a few other remedial works should be done. But we are now, as you can see below, settled in for Christmas. I start with the newly exposed arch which was once the front door looking into the room from the main house. On the wall opposite is the Mrs, the Aga and the old bread oven from the 1600s.
And then various views around the room. The enormous old table and the chairs of a similar era are newly acquired as is the Welsh dresser. as you can see, three of the walls are restored to the old oak timbers with lime plaster in between. The window over the sink is new and brings light to the room. And the paintings?
The one with holly on it is of David Cochrane, my great uncle who fell down the mountain which is opposite Delphi in Greece in 1931. The small ones and the large one of a herald (my great grandfather, Sir Arthur Cochrane as a younger man) arrived from my father’s house in Shipston. Both are by artists who are not hugely famous but whose works are of some note. Strang painted Sir Arthur while the landscapes are by Augustus Hare. Between the two paintings is the wiondow tax window.
