So, that was the winter of discontent...

Hello Karen great to have you back again .

Fab garden room.

Hi Karen. Welcome back! It's lovely to hear from you again - you have surely been missed. Your new garden room looks fabulous! You must be so pleased with it - and so glad to have all that over. The plants are great too. Love the "twister"!

Hope you have a fabulous summer - looking forward to the succulents!

Hi Karen,so lovely to hear from you again,we have been wondering if you were ok..glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humour:o) My,what a time you have had..but it all looks beautiful..you must be so relieved it's turned out so well..:o) just to let you know poor B the Builder hasn't worked since the hole in the wall job !! shame on you Lol xx

Welcome back Karen. Pleased you are ok. I agree with the others that your Garden Room looks fabulous. You have been very busy.

Welcome back Karen so pleased to hear from you and know you are ok, it does sound like a fun time you've been having yet again!!!!
Your new garden room looks good as do the plants, hope the garden is doing ok and looking forward to seeing it once again......

wow! Look at your garden room....It's absolutely fantastic!! and all the beautiful lush healthy plants too! Whoa! That's stunning Karen! enjoy...you have it furnished absolutely beautifully! Great job! :)))))))

Fabulous garden room, really love how you have furnished it.

Nice to see you back Karen, like your other friends say I've missed you too......
Its a beautiful room you've created there, so useful all year round, (our conservatory has been a godsend in these awful wet and windy times)

I hope that when you venture through the doors things are not as bad as you imagine......

( the sideways photo thing seems a goy problem, its happening to others)

Hello everyone and thank you for all your good wishes! x

Scotkat, it's really good to be back again! Feels like it's been a very long time.

Thanks Mel, I am really pleased with it...and I seem to have acquired a new addiction - to exotic looking houseplants! Luckily (?) the weather here has not been conducive to indulging in my outdoor habit...yet! :)

Oh, Bloomer! I had forgotten all about the hole in the wall! And I thought that gang were bad! I should've called Bob in the first place. Instead, I got Mr Blobby this time...picture him bumping around with a saw and a hammer...and you've just about hit the nail on the head...lol! :D

Thanks Cinders! I'm just about finished the cleaning up now. Motivation is the difficult bit, after all those months sitting on my hands.

Thank you Lincs, disasters do seem to follow me around! I'm afraid I've had to drop a couple of balls whilst sorting this lot out...so the garden is definitely not ready for an
outing! But, I can't cut the grass in the rain (well, that's my excuse), so I don't feel too guilty, yet! ;)

Hi J! Thank you and don't worry x

Thanks Karen and Denise! Believe it or not, the furniture was more by accident than design. OH, being even more impatient than me, decided that he wanted it furnished before he went back off-shore (not really a good idea because it's been sitting in there collecting a thick layer of dust)...so, we went shopping for anything we could take home that day...demonstration models from two different shops...all went together beautifully!!

I'm thinking of putting a little telly on the wall under the windows...then I can stay in there all day. It's amazing how much better you can feel being surrounded by light and greenery! :D

We've missed you too......
Now THAT is the room that in my dreams I've imagined having - almost down to the last detail. If I didn't know about the nightmares you have had with your builders, I'd say "surely it was worth it?" I can see you spending a lot of time in it, possibly to the detriment of the outdoor bits.
It's like old times having you back on Goy again. Brilliant blog, too.
p.s. I've had to import both my upright vacuum cleaners and my carpet shampooer from the UK - unknown in these far-flung foreign parts!

Hello Pam, it's nice to see you again too! I can quite believe it about your conservatory. This winter has been very long and very dark...the coldest, wettest May since 1962, here.

I'm going to let OH go in there first, next time he's home...that way, I'll definitely have my new hoover by the end of that week...

I think all my sideways photos are ones which were taken with the camera in a vertical position (if you know what I mean)...I might try rotating them when I open them...to see if that works.

Hiya Gatti!

Thank you!

I think I'm getting too long in the tooth to spend quite so much time waiting in limbo...but, it's done and dusted now (literally!)...and I'm going to enjoy it!! :)

The French are only just waking up to the joys of the upright hoover...God, I hate dragging that Karcher around!

Hi, that is a beautiful garden room and very tastefully done up too. I am sure it a lovely place to sit and do the quilting. So much light!

wellcome back Karen. I missed you too.

I just reread this....the effect of having a light filled room, especially in the winter, is dramatic. We live in ours. We purposely didn't have a tv in it, in spite of the builder trying hard to persuade us. Just as well, because if we had, the living room indoors would now be redundant!

We've a Henry hoover......And he hates me :0(

so I got myself a Vax Air 3 three wishes
The lightest I,ve ever used now I've mastered the universal joint!
Came in a box and easily fitted together

I love your room Karen and am so glad you are back! The house plants all look very healthy at the minute, like you I am a disaster with them so have given up apart from a Dragon tree that seems to be indestructible Lol! I hope our French correspondent has returned on a full time basis :o))

We have one Annie, it got too tall so we chopped off the top, it sent out numerous 'heads' and the top rooted!

Hi Anujag and thank you!

Thank you, Bik...incorrigible, as ever :)

I think that's exactly what will happen to our living room, Karen...except, maybe, at Xmas...or when it's so cold that I need to see, as well as feel, a lit fire. Mind you, we've put a heat exchanger in the new room, so it'll probably still be more comfortable in there! And I don't care...I've had enough of the dark... :)

Aha, Pam...glad to hear you say that, because it's a vax mach air I'm after. Bon recommandation!

Hi Annie! Thanks! Your French correspondant is definitely back on air!! It's a case of, "so far, so good", with the plants...except for the lemon tree, I have to confess. OH seriously overwatered it...and now it needs a good dose of Epsom salts or iron...or both! Don't know whether to let it dry out for a bit longer...or give it the medicine - in even more water! No doubt that whatever I decide, it'll be wrong. Ah, the dilemmas of the indoor garden...lol!

I'm off to google "dragon tree"...sounds like just the plant for me! :)))

Well I've had it 10 years now Karen :o)

Funnily enough, Annie, I was just looking at a lovely one (didn't know what it was until now) with quite wide bright and dark green variegated leaves, in town this morning...obviously, it's meant to be mine. And, by chance, I have to go back later! lol! ;)

I water mine about once a month Karen, apart from that it gets the occasional dust :o)

Sounds like it'll stand a reasonable chance in my hopeless hands, then, Annie...Just popping out to get it! :)

Welcome back Karen, love the new room. Have you had as bad a winter as we have? We've been having some sunshine lately and what a difference it makes. Are French workmen like British workmen?..We've just had to get one in to undo and start again on a downstairs wetroom which was 'done' last year ...in fact it was us who were 'done' lol:-))

Thanks Ba :)

Aah (sigh), I know exactly what you mean, Ba...I've found that quotes come in three catagories - unbelievably cheap (to be avoided at, almost, all times), reasonable (the danger "lucky dip" zone) and incredibly expensive (which is likely to be a wonderful job - but, seems utterly ridiculous when compared to the others). We really should have learned by now that the "incredibly expensive", usually ends up the cheapest, in the long run...

Another thing I've found is that when a workman is having to remedy another's botched job, he tends towards perfection, as a matter of pride!

(I've also found that it only works on the one job...employ him again, and you're back to square one...!)

We had a long, mild and wet winter...it was the spring which was freezing!!

Hope you get a great result on your wet-room - this time! :))

We had the same Karen...long dismal,wet, not too cold until March...then all hell let loose.:( Coldest spring since '63, the year I was born! ll change now though and a typical Scottish summer so far....you know exactly what that means in these parts...warm, cold, wet, dry, windy....all in the same day!

Ha! Same here, Karen. Some of my annuals were still hanging on...until March, that is...and -10° for five days straight!!!

And the rest has been pretty much the same as you describe...not normal for here...

Time to move south of the Pyrenees, perhaps...what do you think??

We've got a "Henry" - he lives in the cellar and we never use him 'cos he's pretty useless unless somewhere floods. I've got a Vax upright vacuum and a Vax upright shampooer and love them both. I gave the old Italian "drag it around the floor" cleaner to daughter, but had to beg it back again when I needed to clean out the wood burner flue! It does have its uses!

Ah...well...that's true, Gatti... My Karcher beast seriously sucks (in more ways than one)! It will shortly be consigned to the outhouse...to repose until needed. (which, I really hope won't be often - because, I hate it with a vengeance! lol!)

Hi Karen ... Nice to see you again. Your garden room is lovely :o)

Hi Hywel...thank you! It's good to be back...and it's very nice to see you again, too :)

Good to have you back Karenfrance from my favourite part of the world, will be there in August cant wait!! love what you have done to the conservatory, looks fantastic, we live in ours, and all the plants unfortunately 8 months this time.....nightmare.

Thanks Dotty :)

It has made such a difference - even to the amount of light getting into the dining room and kitchen.

Let's hope that the summer gets going properly by August! It was roasting hot yesterday afternoon...but, today, it's raining...again...still, at least it's getting warmer.

Raining here too,Karen,but it's been dry for ages now..so the garden will appreciate it ..still warmish though..always a bonus :o)

I actually had to get the hosepipe out yesterday evening - plenty of cool rainy days recently, but nothing much in the way of a useful downpour. At least today is set to be sunny and hot. Hooray!

I've just had to go out and water a few things in sheltered places, this morning - even though it's drizzling - yesterday was so hot, it knocked them for six.

Ah, well...never happy, lol!

Since it's raining again, I think I'll make a start on my new hobby...leaf polishing! LOL! :D

Welcome back. Loving the new room. My daughter's boyfriend's house in France had something very similar built last year and when we visited in Spring we spent all our time in there. The weather was diabolical but it was so lovely to look out on the comings and goings of the birds and animals; just wish we could have one here.

Thanks Tuesdaybear :)

It does make a huge difference...these old French houses tend to be rather dark - a godsend in the heat of the summer...but very dreary in the winter. Hope you enjoyed your visit!

Absolutely. France is my spiritual home, I think.

Well...it's not mine...but here I am, anyway!!

Oh Karen! I thought you loved France! Have the builders spoiled it for you for ever?

So did I,but I guess with all that hard work you have just had done,you will be staying? Our Grandsons other Grandparents had two earthquakes last night,where they live in Spain..they thought the house was coming down..very scary,but it happens there ,now and then..their two other little grandsons are there on holiday,so it was very frightening for them all :o)

Bloomer, that is weird! The night before last I had a very vivid dream that the room and the bed was shaking, and that I was deliberating whether or not it was serious enough to get up and go outside, but OH and friends assure me nothing happened here. We get these trembles every now and then and think little of them. Do you think I've got supersensory perception powers? :o)

I think it's just this house, Karen...I've been battling with it for too long and N's contracts seem to keep him away for longer and longer periods.

Truth is my "spiritual home" would probably be in a fictional village somewhere in Scotland, full of characters and warm, balmy summer evenings...so, I guess, here will be fine - there are lots of characters and summer evenings.

Gosh, I didn't know that Spain was susceptible to earthquakes, Bloomer...mind you, I didn't know that Wales was either until the other week. No damage, I hope?

They do say that women are much more attuned to earth tremors than men, Gatti - so, maybe you do! :)

There have been three earthquakes since I moved to Northants, we seem to get them in the East Midlands. The last one was the worst, it sounded like a Juggernaut passing through the house. Ella said it felt like someone kicking the back of her chair, it took ages to calm her down after :o)
Good to know that the Earth is more likely to move for us though Karen!!

My OH generally sleeps through earthquakes, and barely notices them when he IS awake! Mind you, we haven't had any really bad ones yet. (Fingers crossed we don't) The worst I've ever experienced was in Manchester, anyway.

It kind of makes you worry about this new "fracking" thing for gas that they're going to start doing all over the place...

Lol...such a shame it has to actually move, Annie!!

We used to get little tremours, in L'Aquila, every day...sometime they were barely perceptible - but, sure enough, the kitchen utensils would be gently waving. The grandmother of the guy, who's flat we shared, had lived through the previous big one. She said it was completely different - as if a giant wave passed under the whole town...

Anyway, (fingers and toes crossed) there won't be another one for another generation, Gatti...unless you go to the Midlands...or Wales! :/

Hi Kf. so nice to see you back and wow.....that garden room I think must be in all our dreams! It is stunning and a great addition to your home, forget what has happened and enjoy that wonderful space. :)

Hello Gm - it's lovely to see you again too! That's exactly what I'm doing :))

nice to see you karen and im catching up here lol
love your garden room and layout to, very nice i could quite happerly sit there enjoying the garden with tea and cake :o))x

Thanks San! Nice to see you too...and, you'd be welcome any time - if you bring the cake! lol! :))x