If at any time you feel like commenting on anything, please feel free to contact me for further details on any matter - chris@springbankhouse.org

Recent news?  2nd January 2009

So 2008 has come to a close and we start the New Year with a very frost laden garden (left).

We have all had a great Christmas and have used the break to clear out the garage (at long last - two skips required and it is still full of the bare essentials (tools / tiles and useful materials).

During the process I removed the timber fencing to the rear which has exposed a further 4ft cavern that was hewn from the bed rock a fair few years ago - however massively exposing the fact that the garage is made of only two physical walls, nothing to join them together! This new space is now the temporary storage for the bikes whilst we research the possibility to demolish the shed and join it on to the main house in the form of a garage / Orangery on the ground floor and an office space / spare guest bedroom with shower above.

As you can see the garden is looking fairly different the the original image (shown below) - see Springbank Garden Plans - I have also updated a stack of family photos from the last two years so that friends and family can see how the nippers are shaping up.

Anyway - keep checking us out as I can now access the site again to keep it up to date.

Coming soon - the cottage will be up for rent again from March - if you know any 'J' cats that need a 2 bed cottage with garden and parking, don't hesitate to send them our way!

Recent news?  6th February 2008

Well after nearly two years of radio silence, also known as, getting on with our lives, many, many things have happened at Springbank since we last posted an update, where do we start...

Edward John Hargrove Clark has become a new addition to the family, completing the loop and ensuring that we have no time for anything but children's activities! He joined us on 14th June 2007, a bonny 9lbs 3oz bundle of strangely energetic laughter.

Toby has literally just turned 5 years old, on the 4th Feb '08.

Both Amelia and I have changed jobs, I am now a Director of a niche IT Consultancy - Contract5, and Amelia has joined Minerva as a Senior Trust Manager.

There is a mountain more to tell, but I won't bore you!

The house is settling in well, we successfully secured tenants nigh on two years ago now and within a few days of advertising, Dougie and Victoria whom are super tenants. They themselves have had a beautiful little girl called Sophia Rose since joining us and all in all the house and cottage have a truly happy feel to them.

The main area which has seen massive change is the garden - pictured February, 2006 beside this text. We have had to undertake some significant hard landscaping, clearing out the brambles, sheds, Les Landii, Knotweed, etc. etc. etc. to create a blank, dog proofed, canvas moving forward. The canvas is also just in the process of being laid, well the turf that is - check out the garden pages!

But what about the property itself? I hear you call…

All has been behaving pretty well, we have been taking our time to populate the walls with the occasional picture or two picked up at an opportune moment, e.g. when a client was moving offices, I bought 10 Victorian studies for £50!

We have many more jobs planned and it is nearly time to go back to planning and ask their advice for a couple of things, the drive needs to be straightened out for one, and the garage/shed needs to come down and be re-built/extended with the potential for a decked area above for balmy summer nights - if they ever come again!

Recent news?  081105

8th November - Well the house is up and running and we have been happily ensconced for a couple of months now. Upstairs is pretty well finished bar the odd detail such as curtains or blinds but hey! We can live with that (for the moment anyway).

Downstairs is taking shape, the kitchen is pretty well finished, the living room now has a floor courtesy of Mark, Toby and myself (picture opposite).

We have had one problem above the kitchen ceiling but we have located and rectified this as well. The second stage of the project 'the Cottage' is flying along with Dave the Foreman at the helm. With any luck the whole job may just be completed by Christmas which will be a great achievement for all concerned.

Anyway, enough of my wittering, enjoy the latest pictures of the house within 'The Gallery - After', the family within 'The Family Gallery' or the new section about the Cottage refurbishment under 'The Gallery - Cottage'.

Recent news?  160805

8th August - I would love to type all day and tell you all that we are in! But we are too busy, working to midnight and some more every night to get the place straight. When I get an hour or three I will sit down and update the pictures, but as a teaser in the first instance, take a look at the new kitchen - on the left - what a beauty! If I get a chance in the next couple of weeks, I will set up a new page 'The Gallery - After' (this is now created (16.08) click here) which should save any regulars from having to trawl through a couple of hundred pictures to see how the house has moved from one 'place' to another in its recent history to a simple and quick comparison, 'then and now' - enjoy!

June 23rd 2005 - Another month has elapsed since our last update and many items are taking shape. As of today we have all the lime slabs installed over the superbly fitted under-floor heating system courtesy of our neighbour - Keith Haines (once it was finally delivered by Uponor (after a wait of two weeks following an administrative error at their end)). The kitchen was delivered last Friday and I have to say, promises to be spectacular, it is the first item that we have really managed to get excited about and for that we have to thank Derek at Cuisine Design in Bath St. Tel: 871100 - amazing kitchens that are actually affordable items which we thought were mutually exclusive. Our bathrooms are also, slowly taking shape. Again, Keith has been applying his skill to enable this element to start taking shape.

Result of the month? V & V Stonemasons (Paul Vautier - Tel: 865773) have agreed to help with the lime rendering internally (whilst taking a break from the Islands Castles and Heritage Projects) which means that I can get on with some decorating (sadly no fishing or relaxing yet) and which enables the electrics and plumbing to be, wait for it, totally finished within the next few weeks. As it was I would have been holding us back, but thankfully this has pulled everything back and could possibly mean that we can move in within a few weeks. (The windows have also been installed and the roof tiles are being fitted as I type). On the whole, things are truly taking shape - at long last!

Recent news?  230505

May 23rd 2005 - The guys from TM Ruane have been working hard the last couple of weeks which means that the house is finally taking shape! The carpenters have been working like trojans to install the stud walls and timber work to repair and strengthen the roof ready for our recycled pan-tiles. The plasterers, Craig and Jason are in at the moment and are working on the ceilings and the new extension. The plumber - Keith Haynes - has been in and performed some first fix work as has the electrician - Derek Morin - which means that I can carry on with what I need to - plastering with lime - the most satisfying task in recent times has been to start dubbing out the granite walls and to then give them theirs first coat of lime render - details under the 'How To...' section. It is good to see the house is taking shape after over a year of living here.

The living room fireplace (pictured left at the weekend) has now been repaired and cleaned up, all I need to do now is render the rear walls with lime and insert a suitable hearth. Richard (our Foreman) is in preparing the floors in the living room and dining room ready to take the lime slab which is on it's way to site from Telling Lime in England. Once it is delivered we will be able to install the under floor heating throughout the ground floor. Once it is laid, we then need to get the lime screed in, the windows in and the lime rendering complete then we are up to a point where the second fix can be undertaken and then decoration - blimey, not long now and we may just have a house to move into - but we shall see!

As an aside, we had the JEP up the other week as they are hoping to run an article on our project both as it stands today and how it will look once completed, if you are a JEP reader and have found your way upon our Web Site for the first time, welcome. Hopefully you will stay with us for the entirety of the journey as many of our friends hope to do so. You will find images of the house prior to purchase in March last year and very soon after within the section 'The Gallery - Before' and up to date images of the work as it is being completed by all involved within 'The Gallery - During'.

We hope that you find the site entertaining and if you have any comments, hopefully productive, or any questions regarding the contacts that we have made to date for sympathetic suppliers of heritage materials, please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail - chris@springbankhouse.org

Recent news?  130405

April 13th 2005 - The guys from TM Ruane have been working hard the last couple of weeks which means that the house is finally taking shape! The timber work being undertaken to repair and strengthen the roof is underway after some initial to'ing and fro'ing but the final solution appears to be the simplest and cheapest which meets our criteria! The plumber - Keith Haynes - has been in and performed some first fix work as has the electrician - Derek Morin - which means that I can carry on with what I need to - plastering - the most satisfying task in recent times has been to start dubbing out the granite walls and to then give them theirs first coat of lime render - details under the 'How To...' section.

The living room fireplace (pictured left at the weekend) has now been repaired and cleaned up, all I need to do now is render the rear walls with lime and insert a suitable hearth.

Recent news?  280305

March 28th 2005 - As the Easter Bank Holiday draws to a close, our weary bodies are ready for a hot bath and a good sleep. The long weekend has been spent either going out and entertaining our small person, or taking every moment that he has slept as an opportunity to be productive. We have repaired a small section of wall that collapsed a couple of weeks ago, removed a few left over areas of cement that had lain undiscovered under plaster - there is still more to come out - but the most satisfying task has been to start dubbing out the a section of granite wall and to then give it, it's first coat of lime render - details under the 'How To...' section.

The builders have not rested on their laurels over the long weekend either, the carpenter was in Good Friday and Saturday finishing the structure of the extension roof and making room for the sun-pipes so that they can be fitted and a first coat of glass fibre can be applied next week, prior to any 'April Showers'. They have also completed the structural floor work which has seen the introduction of a great 10"x10" Oak Beam. All I have to do is introduce some detail, either a chamfer or some such design that I have not yet had an opportunity to think about.

As an aside, we had the JEP up last week as they are hoping to run an article on our project both as it stands today and how it will look once completed, if you are a JEP reader and have found your way upon our Web Site for the first time, welcome. Hopefully you will stay with us for the entirety of the journey as many of our friends hope to do so. You will find images of the house prior to purchase in March last year and very soon after within the section 'The Gallery - Before' and up to date images of the work as it is being completed by all involved within 'The Gallery - During'.

We hope that you find the site entertaining and if you have any comments, hopefully productive, or any questions regarding the contacts that we have made to date for sympathetic suppliers of heritage materials, please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail - chris@springbankhouse.org

Recent news?  150305

March 15th 2005 - The work is progressing well though a little inaccurately, finally the process of things going up rather than being pulled down has started, the ground floor and more of the new extension is up, though we are a bit worried about the change in floor levels between the old and the new - there are going to be stairs everywhere!

The floors in the old house have all come out and a bit of incorrect jiggery pokery has ensued but I am sure that it will all work out well in the end - it better!

I have been doing a little on the house, some wattle and daub repairs - which is fun - remove flaking lime, wattle and daub. bag it up, break it up into small pieces, put it in a cement mixer with a good dose of fresh St. Astier lime et Voila! A good soggy mix (when added with water) to reapply on the rarest wall in the house, the chimney stack and a couple of other places for good measure! A bit of dubbing out has also been done with horse hair, but I am not happy with the resulting mortar so it may all have to come off again, I will see how it all dries.

Apologies as ever for the lack of updates, I seem to be at work all of the time at the moment in a vain attempt to fund this project!

Enjoy the latest pictures on the Gallery - during, plus a couple of our little fella now that he has discovered marmite!

Recent news?  080205

February 8th 2005 - The excavation work to the rear and side of the property has completed and today the cement slab has been laid - things are moving in the right direction.

As well as that, other work that has been completed recently includes the removal of the gas main, the staircase and the floor within the old house. The laying of a French drain under the new kitchen - to cater for the three springs that appeared as the bed rock was removed. The removal of the old Well head and the formation of a man hole cover. Block work walls to the new parking area, one chimney has been dismantled and the windows have been removed. The house looks a bit sorry for itself - but hey! Things have got to get worse before they get better.

Finds to date are few and far between, a spear head of unknown age was discovered on day one of the demolition work and is on show within 'The Gallery - During', as are many photographs (approx. 50 new) that relate to the work completed since T M Ruane and Co started work on January 4th.

So far the guys have all done us proud, one set 'professionals' have let us down, I won't go into detail, let's just say they are no longer within the 'Circle of Trust' to quote 'Meet the Parents'. Their logo has been removed as we no longer wish to promote them, though we will continue to employ their services... for the moment.

We did manage to get away to France the other weekend to do a 'Recky' for materials such as tiles and anything else to keep our costs down, a few pic's have been added to 'The Family Gallery' and last but most importantly - it was Toby's 2nd Birthday on Friday 4th Feb - we think the little fella had a hoot!

Recent news?  310105

January 31st 2005 - The excavations have been completed both behind the house and the parking space to the side of the house. Richard (Foreman) and John (the Dig) have been doing some sterling work throughout and we are looking forward to seeing the job through with them.

Recent news?  100105

January 10th 2005 - The excavations are progressing at a pace. The builders have already removed the building that they started demolishing last week and have nearly completed the excavations for the parking spaces to the East of the site. They are expecting an electrician on site today to disconnect the kitchen which is now devoid of Aga as we gave it to the previous owners due to the expense and time associated with refurbishing it - we have no time and they have plenty money from the sale of the house to us! So it should have gone to a good home. I look forward to going home tonight and being met with a quagmire and no electrics - we shall see!

Recent news?  050105

January 4th 2005 - The building work has commenced, and blimey, has it started with success! In one day the professionals have achieved as much as I would have hoped for in a month, if not longer. They also found a spear head in amongst a wall that they demolished which will appear on the site soon under a new 'finds' section.

The builders that we appointed in December are TM Rouane and are fortunately based approximately 1/4 of a mile from our house. They come with the highest recommendations and are keen to do the job as are experienced in refurbishing old local houses. The gang working on the house, last worked together on rebuilding an old Priory - nice work if you can get it!

We recently had two researchers visit the house with Dr John Renouf, an extremely helpful and informative geologist. The researchers are assisting a Guernsey author - John McCormack - to produce a new work documenting all houses which appeared on the 1795 Richmond map of Jersey. Fortunately for us we do appear on the map and again, it was fortunate for us to have the researchers visit. Not only did they find evidence to make the house significantly earlier than first thought, but also, they discovered evidence of an early bread oven out of the back of the main fireplace - pictured opposite which had lain hidden under a coat of clay render.

The evidence to support an earlier date was the size of the chamfered edges to the fireplaces, the significant chamfer and size of the main beam across the living room and the way the cross beams have been laid. Not in the normal modern fashion as in deeper and thin in width therefore offering the most strength, rather much wider than deeper, this is almost certainly indicative of a date prior to 1600 and this in the part with the date stone 1691.

On the subject of the date stone, it was noted that all of the fireplaces had been modified in some way, as had the windows to the front, in fact on further investigation it has become apparent that the whole house was potentially re-faced after 1650 (fashions changed, chamfered windows were right out). Maybe in fact 1691, thus the date stone. This would also explain the cracks between the fascade and the core which we had put down as the front de-bonding from the core but maybe this was not the case.

Recent news?  011104

Eure-ka-ka-ka-ka! We have planning permission and building bye-law approval - at last. Which means we can go out to tender and maybe, just maybe, get some major work done this year rather than the continual stream of stripping out modern interiors.

We have already managed to order the bathrooms, courtesy of excellent service from Pastella Ceramics. The next elements that we need to choose are the kitchens, which should be chosen by the end of November as we will have then received our building tenders from the contractors and will have an idea of how much money we truly have to play with. Our figures should be set in stone but at the end of the day we have to be realists. If the refurbishment is going to cost a fortune, we will need to cut our cloth according to our purse - so no fantastic range cooker for instance - we shall see - there are always competitions to enter and pray for!

It is about time that we had some luck...

Talking of luck, this weekend has brought to light a fourth fireplace, hidden under plaster, over three inchces of cement and bricked up in it's entirety - this leads us to believe that we are due a very, very cold winter!

The 'Springbank Swap Shop' which will list various items that are surplus to our requirements or items that we need from other friends in the house refurb' fraternity is now on-line - Item 1 - our Aga. Let me know if you are interested in anything you see - chris@springbankhouse.org.

Recent news?  300404

Back in April we were lucky enough to purchase Springbank. Since then a lot has happened but I have only just thought of creating a diary aspect (November 04) so that you can see the process as it happens. If I get time, I will dig out some older sets of details between now and then so that the story is not quite so dis-jointed.