Making (and unmaking) plans

The back garden

It all started with the garden, which stumbles downhill in three tiers that have been diligently undermined by moles. It's roughly 55' x 85', so a good size.  But a challenge.  I used to love gardening.  However, this plot – and the hens we kept for three years – has broken my gardening spirit, at least for the time being. So, last spring, seven years after we'd moved here from our little cottage around the corner, we started thinking about Doing Something with our north-east-facing patch, and we weren't short of ideas.  But we thought we'd get someone in to advise: we approached Stuart at Urban Forest for help, because we liked the transformation he had worked on a friend's back garden
And, sure enough, he came up with some appealing plans, including a large seating area that would be sited on the west side of the middle tier, enabling us to enjoy something of the afternoon sun.(It's forsaken the patio directly behind the house before 2pm, even in the height of summer.) He also had some suggestions for the patio.  
"Ah, but we really ought to get the patio door sorted out, first."  True. From the moment we moved in we'd been complaining about the sliding door, which doesn't so much slide as slice off a sliver of metal as it grinds open. And closing it requires a run-up to get enough force behind it.
Within a matter of a few weeks, we'd progressed from looking at neat, almost frameless glass panels that fold back on themselves to seriously considering a massive (and beautiful) glass extension that would add about 12' x 12' to the sitting-room and take in the pleasant view (once you got past the messy garden) over the fields beyond.  If you are ever thinking of something along those lines, Apropos are not cheap but they are fabulous, and their local architect, Tom, took a lot of trouble to work out what we wanted and to translate that to a design. We felt really rather bad when, someone – this someone, I'm afraid – said, "But what about the loft?"

Misty morning in October 2013

We have a considerably spacious loft.  You can probably tell that from the picture above.  The house is a late-70s self-build, and the original owner had always intended building up into the loft at a later stage.  We knew that the view from up there would be amazing, because Ian had been unable to resist the lure of the scaffolding when the chimney-stack was being repaired after a hard winter a few years ago.  (I passed up the chance, knowing that although I am good at climbing ladders, I appear to have a psychological difficulty about getting down again. I don't fancy coming a-cropper, like Ibsen's poor old Solness, thanks.)  And the views from the first-floor rooms at the back have given us a taste of the prospect.  I'm forever leaning out of my daughter's bedroom to gawp at a beautiful sunrise or just admire the vista of fields, trees and sky. She's been longing for me and Ian to stop breaking into her room while she's trying to laze about in bed, and to get our own view. So, although we hardly need the space, and although I am going to be embarrassed every time I have to confess to what we're doing, it's decided: we're going up!