And for those who didn't see these on FB, here's a look around the place...

new extension at the back

original kitchen chimney exposed in the new extension

Long walk to the loo at night

There are four double bedrooms all with fireplaces - the quilt  was made by Julie Martin

The Raeburn will not be put to use...I did all that fire maintenance when I was 36 and had a wonderful AGA at WentworthFalls, which kept the house warm, heated the water, and kept the soups and stews and pies hot. ButI don't plan to do it again.

Smokers Retreat

This corner now houses the dining table

It doesn't look grand from this angle

The first gate Marita and Paul found behind a wall of shrubs

It is not all hard work and weeds at Charlotte Vale Farm. Here are some photographs of the lovely old parts of the garden that have been lovingly maintained.

Through the bedroom window

Through the kitchen window

Front veranda

The southern side which may have been a kitchen garden in the old days  because it seems to be a bed bordered in sandstone blocks

A  rose by any other name?

I settled on the name Charlotte Vale Farm (instead of Far Out or The Headmaster's House) because the property sits above Vale Creek Wineries which is named for Queen Charlotte Vale Creek...bit of a mouthful. The creek nearest us is called Bathtub Creek which runs into QCVC.  A name like Bathtub Creek Farm, Cow Flat, just doesn't have the same ring to it. The idea of Charlotte Vale pops up in the naming of quite a few places, and it's such a pretty name....didn't know I would be having a grand daughter by the same name. It's a farm in the storybook sense with three alpacas, three geese, four cats, three dogs, two chooks, a lone Guinea Fowl, and abundant nocturnal visitors. Oh, and a few hundred sheep in the field, and often, in my yard.

Cutting a path through my field of weeds

Rescuing rhubarb and strawberries from
 the old vegetable beds

Growing a rust gallery

The weed whacking of one half acre field is now complete.

We discovered a big patch of potatoes, Red Pontiacs and lots of creamy coloured new potatoes, as well as onions and the two large clumps of green (but ripe) rhubarb. My alpacas had eaten my Ruby Red Rhubarb which was sitting in  a pot near the back door.

The great weed whacking

We have begun the marathon renovation.  I can feel it in my bones all achy breaky today after a long Sunday morning session with the new mattock. I managed about four hours of work before the males in the house stirred.







Two panadol osteo and nothing can stop me!

 Chris, our Mr Maps, has gone visiting friends interstate, as one does when retired, so we are proceeding without the benefit (yet) of his wonderfully detailed drawings and the consultant who was going to work with them. I just hope we don't do anything too destructive along the way. Manuela's garden design workshop is in March and I think it will be a great help to me. I have to miss one Saturday to sing alto in the Marrickville Messiah...big tug of love to choose between gardens and baroque choirs.

Russ, a young, strong Canadian, has been "weed whacking" for about 20 hours over the last fortnight and the transformation is amazing. We have a field and the alpacas and geese have visited it and shown their appreciation by foraging and grazing.

 Linda, who I hope will be our regular gardener, has retrieved the ornamental beds on the side, Peter  has slashed and mown the entrance, and I have pulled out metres of wire, star posts, tyres, 44 gallon drums,old timbers and bits of iron. Our big son Ben and his two mates moved the iron bath to the Rust Gallery. Gardens this size require the love of many over time.