January DIY rundown.

Thoroughly refreshed by the traditional highland New Year of wholesome behaviour, fresh air and long walks (ahem) we have hit the ground running in January.

At number 5 in the January DIY rundown are the new garage doors, they were stuck shut and all broken hinges before hogmanay and they now swing free and boast shutlines a BMW would be proud of.

Coming in at 4 is the back on the cottage woodshed. The roof lifted some time around hurricane Bawbag and the entire back wall fell out. Big thanks to Jack for helping lift the whole thing straight and to Dave for spotting someone disposing of a wriggly tin building and bringing it round before it even hit the floor of the skip.

Number 3 is all about the electrics, I wont include a picture of the new plug sockets in the utility room and the office because that would be too dull for words.

At number 2 we have fine Scottish kilowatts. The last of the solar panels have made it onto the roof of the barn and the garage so the farmyard is now a net exporter of energy (so long as nobody puts the lights on or takes a shower). The house (pictured) has been up and running a while but it was the winter solstice when we put them up, the sun barely gets above the chimneys this time of year, then it snowed, then the inverter tripped and we didnt notice so they have generated a total of £5.

And in top spot, move over Lawrence Llewellen Bowen, the house is getting a make over. So far that extends to transforming the big drawing room into a big pile of furniture in the hall and new curtains in the little drawing room and the housekeepers room but by February eagle eyed viewers will notice new pelmets and curtain rails here and there, painted soffits outside the house, new hinges on the oven, new light fittings in the library and a host of other small but tastefully implemented improvements.

These are filling the time nicely as the wood fired boiler has been delayed by a fortnight, leaving us, as seems to be the case with all renewable projects, starting work dangerously close to our first booking of the year.