We've Bought an Historical Old Vicarage!

[mrs-b]

Yes, well, you'll have a roommate. I can't be in the orangery all the time.
I'll bring an extra caftan and an extra book of stories. It's how we'll earn our keep!

@canuk-gal and @ItsMainelyYou - if you think I'm camping out in the garden while the two of you hog my bedroom, you're fair and far off as they say! I'll be earning my keep by being witty and charming and making teensy little cucumber and watercress sandwiches for afternoon tea and brewing endless pots of Whittards, in between driving @Ally T to London to do personalized perfume testings at Ormonde Jayne on Bond St and trying on shoes and handbags at TOD'S.

Oh, ALRIGHT! So I'll be cleaning the toilets! But it amounts to the same thing. More or less....

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

More news please!!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Ally T]

@mrs-b @canuk-gal @ItsMainelyYou

There are 2 guest rooms

 

[Ally T]

HI:

More news please!!!!

cheers--Sharon

More news equals more new windows!

The first is the Media Room, which will basically be a technological hangout for the girls & their masses of gaming friends. There is another window in here to the right, which doesn't have stone mullions & has a deep windowsill with a window seat.

The second is the main lounge room, which has four panes still to go in tomorrow, as they ran out of light on Friday afternoon.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

@mrs-b @canuk-gal @ItsMainelyYou

There are 2 guest rooms

Okay, that mean caftans and saucy humor everywhere. I hope there are window seats for when I feel wistful but not orangery dramatic.
We'll coordinate movements right, @canuk-gal and @mrs-b?
Never you mind, you'll never do a chore alone, @mrs-b.
Those girls will have aunties coming out of their ears.
I think we have a real chance to become local legend with our sparkling selves. Can you imagine the kerfuffle when we make a foray into town?!

 

[Ally T]

The carpenter was there on Friday too, building the recessed boxing for the old fireplaces. Once the wood is fitted, the electrician will put holes in the tops for the down lighters & then they will plaster them all into place. I don't have a pic of the one in the Media Room, as there were stacks of insulation boards propped up against it, but it will have recessed shelving inside & lots of power sockets for all the games consoles.

The first pic is my new Music Room. This will be tiled in white & have the original mahogany fire surround mantel fitted back on, which you can just see stood to the left covered in blue plastic. I plan to have cascades of fearns & ivy inside, which will look stunning in the evening with just the down lighters turned on for a bit of atmosphere. This will mostly be my quiet lounge room. It will be white, the chandelier is white, we have amazing & very large Carriage Lanterns to fit on the wall either side of the bay window & the sofas are teal coloured Chesterfields. My antique piano will be in here.

The second pic (green wall) will be the new dining room & the huge re-instated arched window is directly opposite. This chimney housed the original cast iron ovens & is extremely imposing. It couldn't be removed due to structural reasons in the Servants bedrooms above, so we decided to make a feature of it. This will be plastered, have down lighting & glass shelving. The top where the lintel is, stands almost 7 feet from the floor.

 

[Ally T]

This is the Hallway window, which is stone mullion & is all prepped & ready for it's 3 new windows next week. My Church pew will sit to the right side.

OMG!! I totally forgot to tell you about the pew!!!! This is the SPOOKIEST THING!!

So I wanted to get one for this wall. We scoured eBay for weeks. They were all in pretty bad shape or hundreds of miles away. I eventually found one about an hour's drive away, in beautiful condition & an acceptable price, so bought it. Off Mr T & I went to collect it last Nov. Got chatting to the guy, who asked what we were doing with it & we told him we were renovating an old Vicarage. He asked where, we told him, his jaw fell on the floor...... Turns out he used to live in the Sextons Cottage IN THE SAME VILLAGE. He lived there 22 years & the pew was IN THAT COTTAGE when he moved in. The pew had come from the very Church that our Vicarage presided over!!! He moved away 15 years ago to be nearer his grandchildren & took the pew with him because it was so pretty.

Mr T & I drove home in absolute awe that we had a pew in the back that was making its way back to where it belonged................

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

You play piano? I'd love to see a picture of your antique!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Ally T]

HI:

You play piano? I'd love to see a picture of your antique!

cheers--Sharon

Here you go! It's an early upright from the 1800's made from walnut. My parents gave it to me for my 8th Birthday & I never looked back.

 

[canuk-gal]

Here you go! It's an early upright from the 1800's made from walnut. My parents gave it to me for my 8th Birthday & I never looked back.

Stunning! What a lovely gift!!!!!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

This is the Hallway window, which is stone mullion & is all prepped & ready for it's 3 new windows next week. My Church pew will sit to the right side.

OMG!! I totally forgot to tell you about the pew!!!! This is the SPOOKIEST THING!!

So I wanted to get one for this wall. We scoured eBay for weeks. They were all in pretty bad shape or hundreds of miles away. I eventually found one about an hour's drive away, in beautiful condition & an acceptable price, so bought it. Off Mr T & I went to collect it last Nov. Got chatting to the guy, who asked what we were doing with it & we told him we were renovating an old Vicarage. He asked where, we told him, his jaw fell on the floor...... Turns out he used to live in the Sextons Cottage IN THE SAME VILLAGE. He lived there 22 years & the pew was IN THAT COTTAGE when he moved in. The pew had come from the very Church that our Vicarage presided over!!! He moved away 15 years ago to be nearer his grandchildren & took the pew with him because it was so pretty.

Mr T & I drove home in absolute awe that we had a pew in the back that was making its way back to where it belonged................

Serendipitous convergences! My favorite!

Here you go! It's an early upright from the 1800's made from walnut. My parents gave it to me for my 8th Birthday & I never looked back.

That is ridiculously beautiful.

 

[Ally T]

Serendipitous convergences! My favorite!


That is ridiculously beautiful.

It really is! It’s seen better days & the footboard has always been missing. It’s been almost completely re-strung over the years & I have to keep a little humidifier of water in the bottom, as the backboard is prone to drying out & warping, which changes the key completely. But I love it. It was always a joke that my dowry was a bit of credit card debt & a decrepit piano

 

[lambskin]

Yes, well, you'll have a roommate. I can't be in the orangery all the time.
I'll bring an extra caftan and an extra book of stories. It's how we'll earn our keep!

Can we make it a triple?

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Can we make it a triple?

Quadruple.
*doorbell rings*

 

[Matata]

@Ally T When I come for a visit, I'm going to run my hot sweaty hands all over that gorgeous piano. I promise I'll polish it afterward.

 

[ame]

Maaaan those windows.

 

[MMtwo]

This is the Hallway window, which is stone mullion & is all prepped & ready for it's 3 new windows next week. My Church pew will sit to the right side.

OMG!! I totally forgot to tell you about the pew!!!! This is the SPOOKIEST THING!!

So I wanted to get one for this wall. We scoured eBay for weeks. They were all in pretty bad shape or hundreds of miles away. I eventually found one about an hour's drive away, in beautiful condition & an acceptable price, so bought it. Off Mr T & I went to collect it last Nov. Got chatting to the guy, who asked what we were doing with it & we told him we were renovating an old Vicarage. He asked where, we told him, his jaw fell on the floor...... Turns out he used to live in the Sextons Cottage IN THE SAME VILLAGE. He lived there 22 years & the pew was IN THAT COTTAGE when he moved in. The pew had come from the very Church that our Vicarage presided over!!! He moved away 15 years ago to be nearer his grandchildren & took the pew with him because it was so pretty.

Mr T & I drove home in absolute awe that we had a pew in the back that was making its way back to where it belonged................

Your whole house is so peaceful and exciting all at once. You are a curator in time and that must be such an honor. You are bringing love in and this is such a hopelessly romantic project.
Are you keeping a book of "things" that can document the fabulous discoveries for posterity?

I love the bench story. I find while working in genealogy, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and sometimes things and people meet again a generation later, or time puts someone back into the place their ancestors left.

 

[Ally T]

Your whole house is so peaceful and exciting all at once. You are a curator in time and that must be such an honor. You are bringing love in and this is such a hopelessly romantic project.
Are you keeping a book of "things" that can document the fabulous discoveries for posterity?

I love the bench story. I find while working in genealogy, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and sometimes things and people meet again a generation later, or time puts someone back into the place their ancestors left.

I love what you have said here. It sums up my feelings perfectly. I fell in love with this house the moment I drove through the gates & then when we stepped inside, Mr T & I both made a little gasping noise. It is captivating, beautiful, calming & filled with light & warmth…..

Given that we initially lost out to a higher bidder but then it came back to us 4 months later & we were offered first refusal, it feels like it was always meant to be our forever home.

Yes, we are fully documenting & photographing all the work & changes. When it is completed, decorated & furnished, we will take more photos & then have a big old beautiful album put together. The treasures we have found along the way will be displayed in the house somewhere. And as for the pew from the Church across the road, it was clearly homesick & it was simply meant to be. But very, very weird!

 

[Ally T]

Have spent the weekend planting small Privet plants in areas of hedges with gaps, so they can get themselves settled in & established before spring. We've also been tidying & blowing away endless leaves.

Thought you might like to see this huge ancient Lime Tree in all her naked glory. Isn't she beautiful? Does anybody know what those hive type gnarly growths are on the trunk?

 

[MMtwo]

She's beautiful!

 

[Dee*Jay]

What a grand old tree!

I think those are burls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Have spent the weekend planting small Privet plants in areas of hedges with gaps, so they can get themselves settled in & established before spring. We've also been tidying & blowing away endless leaves.

Thought you might like to see this huge ancient Lime Tree in all her naked glory. Isn't she beautiful? Does anybody know what those hive type gnarly growths are on the trunk?

That is a woodworker's dream right there with many, many, very expensive burls! That tree is magnificent There is going to be bench near there, or somewhere where you can admire it?

 

[lambskin]

Burls. They are coveted by furniture makers and wood workers due to the unique grain patterns and hardness. The small ones make beautiful boxes And the larger ones make beautiful table tops. Pretty finicky to work with however. There was an American TV reality show that followed burl loggers and their hunt for burl in Texas. The wood was coveted and shipped all over the world.

 

[Ally T]

@Dee*Jay @lambskin @ItsMainelyYou Burls! Thank you so much! This tree is seriously huge, the burls are big & many in quantity, all the way around. I hope I don’t get sneaky people trespassing & trying to chop them off!

There will definitely be a seating area between this tree & the huge Oak next to it, which is about 20 feet away. I love a big old tree

 

[Ally T]

So I THINK I have just discovered that the front of my antique piano is carved from Walnut Burl wood. I know 100% it's Walnut, but the pattern is uncanny

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

So I THINK I have just discovered that the front of my antique piano is carved from Walnut Burl wood. I know 100% it's Walnut, but the pattern is uncanny

Yes! It sure is. That's the good stuff.

 

[Ally T]

Yes! It sure is. That's the good stuff.

Eek!! I love my piano. We've been through a lot. I've played it whilst laughing, whilst courting, whilst grieving & whilst crying. Like, ugly crying. But I think I love it just a little bit more now...

 

[MMtwo]

So I THINK I have just discovered that the front of my antique piano is carved from Walnut Burl wood. I know 100% it's Walnut, but the pattern is uncanny

Yes! That is so fine! What happy discoveries.

 

[Neptune]

Burls. They are coveted by furniture makers and wood workers due to the unique grain patterns and hardness. The small ones make beautiful boxes And the larger ones make beautiful table tops. Pretty finicky to work with however. There was an American TV reality show that followed burl loggers and their hunt for burl in Texas. The wood was coveted and shipped all over the world.

+1

 

[rainwood]

Sometimes what seem like unrelated facts in our world link up to surprise and delight us. Both your house and your piano are stunning.