Our first “real” trip

Friday September 11 saw our first “real” trip to the Charlton House. We were excited about the prospect of finally starting our renovation. The weather was simply gorgeous and we arrived to find much of the yard overgrown with tall grass and stinging nettles, so the first order of the day was to drag out the mower and get to work on the ‘jungle’ that had grown since settlement.

Unfortunately the mower had a problem with its wheels and blades – rather than cut the grass it just pushed it over – so it was off to the local hardware store to invest in a newie.

Whilst I was out mowing and poisoning nettles, Shirleen set to work on the inside, starting with the kitchen and bathroom – the 2 rooms we anticipate using the most during our stays.

The lovely weather continued on Saturday and we decided to spend most of it outside cleaning up the yard and removing an out of control ivy which was strangling a couple of very old grapevines. Some of the ivy was so thick it required my reciprocating saw to cut through it!

Whist Shirleen continued to attack the ivy I took to removing an old post & wire fence (which we think was the remnants of a dog yard) and moving mountains of old timber, iron, bed frames, wire mesh and other miscellaneous junk which had piled up over the years, from the side of the house to the “tip pile” in the back yard.

By evening we were both exhausted and in need of a shower and some wine, so we headed back to our lodgings at mum’s for a well needed rest.

Sunday, with aching bones partially rested, we continued the clean up of the inside of the house, removing old furniture, taking down the curtains, and generally tidying the inside in preparation for some serious cleaning on our next trip.

By Sunday lunch, with the tip pile resembling something like Mt Everest, we decided we had had enough for the weekend, so started packing up in preparation for our return home.

Overall we had a very productive weekend, during which we also met some of our new neighbours, and we cant wait until our next trip to continue our very own “Renovation Rescue”