‘inside’ innerhaven

With all the renovation work taking over our lives these days, I’ve not even looked at my bike for weeks!  I don’t think vigorous wallpapering and painting counts as real exercise, but it’s about as close as I’ll get to a cardiovascular workout until the house is ready to let out.

The only thing that keeps me sane these days is the odd 5 minutes here and there on my favourite mountain bike forums - www.mtb-borders.com and www.singletrackworld.com

I may becoming a virtual mountain-biker, but that’ll not be forever - the refurbishment is cracking on and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel…

It may soon be time to dust off my saddle and get into the hills!

Andy    

Richard from Glentrail House and Iain from MB7 will be busy drumming up interest in the 7Stanes and the Tweed Valley at next weeks Outdoor Show, and although we’re still cracking on with the renovation, we’ve been asked to supply them with some tasty innerhaven treats to keep them, and visitors to the show going! 

Aneela is a superb cook - as my waistline testifies - so hopefully her baked edibles’ll go down well, and give folk a flavour of what they can expect to find in their welcome pack when they come and stay here at innerhaven.  

 Andy

Another day, another adventure into the unknown - this time with HILTI core drill, and diamond tipped core bit!

I soon realised why neither my plumber or local builder wanted to take on the task of creating 2 bathroom ventilation holes in the side of the house. 

For those unfamiliar with the construction of a typical Scottish Borders Whinstone house, the walls are anywhere between 2 and 3 feet thick, and constructed from Whinstone rubble - probably the hardest stone around! 

No wonder then when I told the guys at Speedy Hire what I was using the equipment for, they reminded me that wear and tear on the drill bit was charged at £13 per mm!!!

Well, I spent 26 hours up a ladder coring out the holes. I swore profusely. I almost knocked myself unconscious as the drill snatched on a rock, then spun me off the ladder. I gave myself a black eye when my lump hammer bounced off the end of the cold chisel and  thwacked me square in the face.  Did I give up?  Did I heck!

I had the drill for 2 days and was damn sure I was going to make the best use of it.

Would I do it again…NO CHANCE!

Well, the job’s done and both loos will be perfectly vented.

Andy 

When it’s finally ready to rent, this is what our self catering apartment in the Scottish Borders is intended for - resting, relaxing and recharging.

We hope that by the time it’s ready we’ll have thought of just about everything to help you get the most from your long weekend, short break or holiday in the Tweed Valley.

Well, little did I know when I bought my luxury shower package from Screwfix, that building an elevated plinth to allow for surface mounted waste drainage, would require a physics, maths and civil engineering degree!I got there in the end, but maybe next time I’ll take the plumbers advice and go with the tried and tested ‘easy-fit’ option.I’m so proud of my DIY plinth (sad eh?!) here’s the before shot, and I’ll stick up an ‘after tiling’ pic this week - and if anyone falls into the same trap as me, maybe I’ll post up some step by step drawings!

Andy 

I admitted defeat and gave up after the ‘build the carcass’ stage, handing the job over to the ‘professional’ before I made an irreversible mess of what is a really nice kitchen. Assured it would be a 2 day job maximum, tomorrow’ll be the 5th or 6th day of kitchen building torment that’s currently slowing up the whole project.

Andy 

…well, to call it a garden is maybe overstating it a little, but it’s a really cool place to relax and have a beer overlooking the river…and we’ve got it back after Scottish Water dug the whole thing up, and unearthed the collapsed drainage system!

Roll on summer so we can crack open the beers and fire up the BBQ. 

I’ll post up some pics this week.

 Andy 

Today, we got to the bottom (no pun intended) of the drainage issue we’d become aware of since taking on the house. Fortunately Scottish Water accepted responsibility for the collapse of the ancient drainage system and have renewed the whole thing!CCTV cameras pinpointed the problem, and the guys dug up the garden to replace the problem pipes. By the time they’re finished we’ll have our garden back.

Today we took a break from the renovations and headed out to ride the Innerleithen Traquair XC route.

With all the DIY at innerhaven this was the first time we had been out biking since Hogmany - it was a lung buster! When we reached the top (well almost, we took a short cut to avoid the last climb) I was really looking forward to the descent. I was so excited I thought I could attempt a two foot drop and unfortunately landed on my front wheel, bounced and went right over the handle bars. After recovering from the first fall I fell again on Caddon Bank!

So I am sitting here, all bashed and bruised with a nice mug of camomile tea thinking about menus for our guests…what would make a tasty homemade goody to provide to guests when they arrive? Scones, muffins, chocolate cake???

As well as providing some tasty treats, I’m setting up an in-house chef service where we’ll offer home made cooking for those evenings when guests just want to relax and not have to worry about cooking a meal. So watch this space as I start to create menus for guests to choose when staying here at innerhaven.

Aneela

Those in the know told us that we were being unrealistic expecting to complete the renovation in two months.   Currently they are absolutely right! We took on the house at the end of November 2007, and it still resembles a building site more than it does a charming roomy 2 bedroom holiday let. I keep trying to reassure myself that we are nearing the tipping point when it starts becoming a welcoming haven for visitors, but the day we can drop our tools, and open the doors to our self catering apartment can’t come soon enough! Andy