Winter sunshine

Old Freshwater and the River Yar - an easy walk along the old railway line, about a mile, from Jubilee Villa in Yarmouth. There's the Red Lion pub for lunch, just opposite the church, and if necessary a bus back from the bottom of Hooke Hill. - named after an earlier resident, Robert Hooke.

We can offer weekend breaks at bargain prices between now and Easter.
Come and enjoy one of our warm houses, perhaps experience geothermal heating or a woodburner, the milder climate and relaxed days in winter and spring.

Booking Now
We are rapidly filling up summer holiday weeks. Book early to avoid disappointment!

Remember that the Isle of Wight has the best maintained network of footpaths in the UK
Do not forget the Isle of Wight Walking Festival 9-24 May can be found at the following link
http://www.iwight.com/home/news/2008/may/walking_festival/default.asp

Eastern Lee is close to the Hampstead Trail and Jubilee villa in Yarmouth is close to the River Yar walks to Freshwater

geothermal heating copes with sub zero weather

Our geothermal heating systems rose magnificently to their first major challenges - providing toasty warm houses for holidays during the Christmas and New Year sub zero temperatures.

The underfloor heating in 'Orchard Lee' provides an easy, very pleasant heat with the added attraction of a warm floor for thawing frozen toes after a long walk. The bathrooms have double quantities of underfloor heating loops - everyone hates a cold bathroom, dont they?
Although it seems counterintuitive to drop damp towels on the floor, it's where they dry best!

The heating is so efficient that, although people taking a winter break ask for wood for the Jotul woodburning stove, it hasn't been used since early autumn as the living room gets too hot. We're finding that setting the system at 23 degrees allows people to operate happily in tee shirts even when it's frosty outside. Although it's not a system which responds instantly, like the hideously expensive gas, 8 hours allows it to come up to full warmth, giving enough hot water to cope with large parties of 10 in the house.

It's great for us to hear people who've stayed at 'Orchard Lee' for a winter weekend, say they've been warmer than at home, and nice to see coffee being drunk on the verandah in the winter. After all, the views over the fields are spectacular and the winter bird-watching varied and interesting, even if a long country walk isn't called for.

Quick glimpses of the nearly finished house. Time to sit on the patio for 3 minutes

A short visit this afternoon to check our visitors had enough comforts to feel at home.
Hopefully, the view of the kitchen from the dining room has a glimpse of the new room, with the sun shining in.







Bath and shower rooms lent themselves to photos.

















Patio was doing its job - but where was the drink?

Next week, we hope to take more carefully considered photos so each room can be seen.

Finished! - almost

By dint of family working 16 hour days, and a massive last minute effort from all, the house was finished at 23.30 last night ready for the first visitors, who are involved with the Isle of Wight Festival -www.isleofwightfestival.com/

At the beginning of the day, the freestanding bath had a tower for taps but no taps or shower - completed by mid day, polished and gleaming by mid afternoon. The other 2 bath and shower rooms were already 'sorted', needing only mirrors to be put in place.

The furniture started arriving at 8.00 from our base here at the farm where we've been preparing some period furniture, collected over the last year. We've been polishing 1930s period mirrors, stripping varnish from old wooden pieces to replace with white stain - so we'll have some older pieces together with new sofas, beds and dining table and chairs. Older furniture, made of wood, and refurbished for today, gives back some character and has no plastic in it!
The kitchen is unapologetically modern, as new 'white goods' are so much more efficient on energy.
Heroic efforts were made on the cleaning - thank you Anne for working a 10 hour day!

The flooring is also a mixture of old and new - the old pine floorboards have been stripped and sealed - rescued from the dark border of stain which must have surrounded most carpets of the date. Ceramic tiles through out the kitchen and new sun lounge/living area, should be low on upkeep, needing little electricity but maybe some elbow power in pushing a mop.

By 19.00 hours we were making up beds for 8 - which takes plenty of energy ( who needs a gym subscription?); by 22.00 starting to fit low energy bulbs to all the side lights. Why are so many light fittings being produced which dont take low energy bulbs?
We've spent much time researching and checking, and still find some will only take a 60 watt equivalent, the 100 watt equivalent being quite a bit bigger.

By 23 .00 it was the final round up of tools and unused bits and pieces. Remembering to leave some lights on ( low energy, of course!) for our visitors to find their way in, we staggered home, where we ruefully realised we had taken no photos.
Our visitors leave early next week, so we'll return to finish.... the utility room, the garden, and find all the bits we missed.

Early June in surrounding fields and garden.

In the field behind the house, the wheat is in ear. It will be 6 or 7 weeks before it is ripe and ready for harvest.
As well as the everpresent pheasant cock, who roosts in the tree to the left of the photo, and who clearly has a harem rearing chicks in the field, there was also a lark up high and in good voice, and swallows swooping the insects.

In the loop of grass which will become the back lawn, there's a good variety of wild flowers - fumitory, shepherds purse, chickweed, buttercups with grasses such as hard brome and Yorkshire fog. All provide food and shelter for the insects which are so vital for the larks and swallows - which are so much more attractive than the noisy, flashy pheasant!

Cladding reaches halfway round outside; inside, rooms are emerging

The cladding now reaches across the back, wrapping around the extension and the old 'utility room' which was added in the sixties and which now houses the geothermal heat pump and large hot water tank.
The extra layer of insulation should keep the back rooms cool in the (hoped for) summer, and retain the heat throughout, in the winter. Visually, it ties the original 1931 structure to the 60's and this year's build.

Whilst work goes on, adding the cladding outside, inside, the plumbing in the bathrooms nears completion.

Rooms are being cleared after being decorated, and the stripped floorboards, now sealed, look very pleasing. As was the custom, only the outer edge of each room had been stained, but even so, there was plenty of dust.
One of the more startling features of the house is the pink fireplace, now cleaned and glowing against the pine floor. This room opens out onto the patio and will have a king sized bed. It's been an enjoyable challenge, looking for prints from the 1920s and 30s to complement the room. We have found a mirror of the period to hang over the fireplace - there wont be fire in the grate at any time as a hazard for the user of the mirror.

The geothermal system is commissioned; the grass is up; the cladding goes on

With the pipework for the geothermal system at least 3 metres underground at the front of the house, the rain and modest warmth is encouraging the grass seed - our embryonic lawn is appearing.


During the rain there has been much activity indoors - radiators connected, bathroom suites installed and plumbed, painting and decorating and construction of cupboards.
The electrician has been a constant presence, moving the complete wiring forward towards the last fix.

Outside, we've used recycled slabs and some locally made 'stones' for the patio and path around the house.
Today, in gaps in the drizzle, the next batch of battens have been fixed to the brickwork and blockwork at the back of the house, ready for the cladding - Hardiplank - which will add a layer of insulation as well as uniting old and new parts of the house.

A major step forward was the visit by the plumbing technician from 'Ice Energy' to commission the geothermal heat pump and check our plumbing.
Mid evening we went back to the house to find a gentle heat in the radiators and the heat pump sending out signals to say all was well and up to heat. So much more satisfying than having a smelly tank full of expensive oil. The earth steadily provides a constant heat, which we are able to pick up, extract and use to warm our house and water. If we could just find a way to generate enough electricity to run the pump so we were liberated from the National Grid....
By the end of tomorrow, all the heat pump and pipework will be enclosed in a cupboard, and should tick along nicely and silently.